Allegory of the Four Seasons

About the Art

The seasons are represented here as large, human figures. Spring wears a crown of roses and plays a stringed instrument known as a lute. She is being kissed by Autumn. Summer, with wheat in her hair and a magnifying glass in her hand, looks out to us, while to the right the man wrapped in fur represents “old man” Winter. The allegorical meaning of this painting may be more than a direct depiction of personifications of the seasons. European painters and writers often alluded to the five human senses: taste, sight, hearing, smell and touch, all of which are represented in this work.

Manfredi may have apprenticed under Caravaggio, an influential artist in early seventeenth century Europe.

FEATURED IMAGE
Bartolomeo Manfredi, (Italian, about 1580–1620/21), Allegory of the Four Seasons, about 1610, oil on canvas, 52 5/8 x 35 3/4 inches (133.7 x 90.8 cm). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Elton F. MacDonald, 1960.27