A description of my December miniature and why I chose February?

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry -  février or February by brothers Limbourgh.

Illumination on vellum


It is a very charming, peaceful scene, suffused  with a great atmosphere of a winter afternoon. What's more it is one of these miniatures which show the life of lower classes from 15th century - a rarity indeed! It is also a very athmospheric picture, appropriate for this time of the year. I decided to do a bit of an analysis this time and bear with me, I haven't done it for ages :).

In the foreground you see a fenced-in small farm with the main house on the left, a barn with sheep in the center and, on the right, four beehives and a dovecote - everything you need to make your living. Behind the main house there is a granary with a smal cupola- so many sheep have to be fed a lot of hay in the winter and they had to store it somewhere, grain for bread too. A flock of dark birds (crows or dark pigeons?) are feeding greedily nest to the barn.Noticeably there are no cows or horses around, maybe indicating that it is one of poorer farms because these were more expensive animals, harder to feed throughout winter than sheep.

The painter cleverly removed one of the walls so we can peek inside the house.
In the foreground a woman, presumably the mistress of the house, and two other people, probably a boy and a girl, are warming themselves in front of a fire. The woman lifts her deep blue dress and a white shift, showing bare legs clad in sturdy shoes, so do her companions; they want to get as much warmth as possible. The woman is looking at an animal, lying near her feet, presumably a house pet kept to catch mice (a marten? a stoat? a dog? It looks like a white marten, it is certainly not a cat but I need help here) .

Now when I come to think about it I am pretty sure the woman is the wife. Her head is covered by a dark headscarf, meaning she is married, and she occupies the best place before the fire. She's done her washing and now she has to rest a bit. The fact that she didn't hesitate to bare her legs might mean just one thing: the pair in the background belong to her family, most propably being her children. Exposing yourself like that before your male servants would be unthinkable.

 Outside, a man with bundles of sticks at his feet cuts down a tree with an ax, while another walks in the snow, blowing on his hands to warm up despite the fact that his upper body and the head are enveloped in a kind of grey-white cloak or a blanket. Just looking at him you can tell how cold it is. A third man in the background drives a donkey, loaded with wood, towards the neighboring village, which is  visible just because of snow-covered roofs and the high, pointed spire of a church.The sky is leaden grey - probably more snow is coming soon.

So where is the master of the house, the husband? My bet is on the man with the donkey. He left his wife comfortable before the fire with younger kids ('sit here, honey dear, I'll be back in no time but no, I can't take you with me, you wouldn't want to catch ague, would you?'), sent two older sons to do outside work ('animals need feeding, you lazy monsters, and logging can't wait as well, move!) but he himself didn't want to bore to death at home any longer. He had a business to attend to, right? He  is going to sell wood on the local market, earn some extra income and maybe visit a tavern or two to drink warm beer, chat with people and listen to the news.

Now compare that quiet but compelling scene with the December painting: hunting the boar.Yuck!