Attributed to Sebastian Vrancx

(Antwerp 1573-1647)

Allegory of the months of March and April, with the Villa Medici

Footnotes

Provenance
Acquired in Rome by William Smith in 1626 on behalf of
Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646), by inheritance to his wife,
Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel (1585-1654), recorded in an inventory made after her death, in 1655, by descent to her son,
William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford (1614-1680), Stafford House, London, by descent in the family to
Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk (1686-1777), Norfolk House, London, by descent in the family to
Sir Bernard Marmaduke Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk (1908-1975), by whom offered
Sale, Christie's, London, 11 February 1938, probably part of lot 90 (as A. Grimmer)
with Robert Finck, Brussels, 1956 (together with the months of May/June)
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 30 November 1983, lot 65 (The Property of a Gentleman), where purchased by the present owner

Literature
'Inventory of Pictures, Drawings and Objects of Vertu Collected by Thomas and Alethea, Earl and Countess of Arundel', ms. Amsterdam, 1655, no. 130; see M. Hervey, The Life, Correspondence and Collections of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, Cambridge, 1921, possibly p. 479 (as Paolo Fiamengho, 'The Four Seasons')
'Catalogue of All and Singular Pictures found in Norfolk House, St. James Sq., at the Decease of Edwd, the last Duke of Norfolk', ms. London, 11 November 1777, nos. B. 1 and B. 16 (as Joos de Momper and Jan Brueghel I)
Possibly, D. Howarth, Lord Arundel and His Circle, New Haven, 1985, pp. 56, note 5, p. 231, (as part of the '25 Pezzi di paesi fiamenghi di pittori moderni' shipped from Rome to London in 1626)

Engraved
Aegidius Sadeler, 1615


The present work most likely formed part of the six paintings, each illustrating two consecutive months of the year, which were acquired by William Smith in Rome in 1626, on behalf of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel. Representing the months of March and April, it shows figures planting out in the gardens, lower left, others working on the vines, lower right, and a group of elegant figures in the foreground venturing out into the Spring air; the Villa Medici, Rome, is also depicted on top of the hill to the upper right. The artist has also beautifully managed to conjure up the Spring season of sunshine and showers by adding a rainbow, arching over the palace and surrounding gardens, in the sky, upper right.

Other works from the series of paintings are known: the months of January/February and November/December were sold at Christie's, New York, (The Collection of J. E. Safra, 25 January 2023, lot 14, as Paul Bril, sold for $253,000) and similarly depicted an early view of Rome, in the form of the Piazza del Popolo (January/February); and July/August was sold at Christie's, New York (30 January 2014, lot 208, as Circle of Paul Bril, sold for $75,000). Given the size and number of the group of panels, it is quite possible that Bril painted these works with the help of one or more of his students active in his large studio in Rome, which included young painters such as Willem van Nieulandt, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Sebastian Vrancx, the most likely author of the present panel.

The compositions for these months of the year are known through a series of engravings executed by Aegidius Sadeler in 1615 (for March and April, see fig. 1). They are all in the same sense as the known remaining paintings but with some small differences amongst some of the finer details. These prints all record Paul Bril as the inventor of the composition.

In 1598, when Sebastian Vrancx was working in his studio in Rome, Paul Bril produced a series of twelve drawings depicting the months of the year, presumably made in preparation for the series of panel paintings. The pen and ink drawing for the month of March, along with those for May, June, July and August, is now found in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no.19786, fig. 2). The composition clearly serves as a basis for the present work with numerous elements appearing in both drawing and painting such as the figure up a ladder staking trees, centre, or the hill-top palazzo and pergola, upper left.

The complete set of six works may well have formed part of the '25 paesi fiamenghi di pittori moderni' which Smith is recorded as shipping back to London in 1626 on behalf of the voracious collector Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel who, at his death 20 years later, was recorded as being in possession of 700 paintings along with large collections of sculptures, books, prints, drawings, and antique jewellery. Later, in 1655, in the inventory drawn up after the death of the Earl's wife, Alethea, the group is given to Paolo Fiamengho (see Literature). The works then remained in the Collection of the Howard family and the Dukes of Norfolk until sold at Christie's in 1938, at which point they were divided into three pairs and described as 'A. Grimmer'. The agent in Rome responsible for securing the works for Arundel, William Smith, was to come to an unfortunate end when accompanying the Earl as a trumpeter on his unsuccessful embassy to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II in Vienna in 1636.

Originating in earlier, traditional depictions of the Months of the Year in medieval and renaissance Books of Hours, the present group closely echoes that by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Executed in 1565 for Nicolaes Jonghelinck (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Lobkowicz Palace, Prague and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), each work similarly represents two months of the year.