Summer: Harvest Scene

Series Title: Four Seasons

designed c. 1535, woven mid- to late 1600s

manufacturer

possibly by Gobelins Manufactory

(France, Paris, est. 1662)

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Culture

France

Medium

Wool, silk, and gold filé: tapestry weave

Measurements

Overall: 254 x 255 cm (100 x 100 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Francis Ginn, Marian Ginn Jones, Barbara Ginn Griesinger, and Alexander Ginn in memory of Frank Hadley Ginn and Cornelia Root Ginn 1952.544.2

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Images of the harvest provided a way to express pride in the fruitfulness and plenty of a particular region and celebrate the diligence of the field laborers.

Description

The wheat harvest took place in July and represented the hard, hot work of summer. The reaper in the foreground and his companion in the middle distance swing their scythes high above their heads as they prepare to cut the wheat stalks. Underneath the shade of an apple tree, three figures in the foreground are determining a price for the wheat. A woman gestures to the coins that the seated man is counting. Behind them another man holds an account book, in which he records their decisions. His pen holder and ink pot hang from his belt. In the distance to the right, two horses draw a cart piled high with wheat toward four farmers who gather bunches of wheat stalks together and tie them into bundles.