MS M.399, fol. 3v

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Da Costa hours
Illuminated by Simon Bening (1483/84–1561)

Ghent, Belgium
ca. 1515
172 x 125 mm

Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), 1910

MS M.399, fol. 3v
Description: 

Occupations of the month: February―Three men are working in a vineyard. One prunes a vine with a knife, another ties a vine to a pole, and the third breaks ground with a pickaxe. A spade and poles are on the ground beside him. Beyond, two men appear in a window of a watchtower. On a further hill, a fourth laborer ties a vine to a pole. A fifth laborer plows a field with a plow pulled by oxen. In the background is a landscape with a river with boats. Small towns appear along the shore. Buildings surmount craggy hills flanking the river.
The scene is within an illusionistic wood frame.

Credits: 

Image courtesy of Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz/Austria.