Sebastian Vrancx and Studio

Countess Alicia Spaulding Paolozzi (1917-2002);
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Representations of the Twelve Months and Four Seasons were a popular subject in Dutch and Flemish art of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.  The tradition derived from calendar minatures in Books of Hours, in which the time of year was indicated by the condition of the landscape and the human activities associated with the month or season depicted.¹  Sebastian Vrancx was amongst the most notable proponents of the genre and the many extant versions and variations, both autograph and by his followers, testify to their enormous popularity.

This painting and the following three lots have long been together in the family collection of Countess Alicia Spaulding Paolozzi (1917-2002). The works may have originated as a set of four paintings, each one representing a season, or could originally have been part of a larger set representing the months.²  In the present work, peasants labor in a late spring landscape with trees just leafing out.  Some figures are seen spreading out lengths of cloth to be dried and bleached by the sun, while others attend to barnyard duties.  The Summer landscape (Lot 47) depicts more lush foliage, with peasants shearing sheep and washing wool.  Autumn (Lot 48) is represented by the harvesting of grapes and making of wine, while Winter (Lot 46) depicts figures skating and frolicking on a frozen canal.  All are filled with charming narrative detail.

Note on provenance:
Alicia Spaulding Paolozzi, born in Boston and educated at St. Timothy’s in Baltimore and the University of Lausanne, was married to Count Lorenzo Paolozzi.  She was a co-founder of the Spoleto Festival in both Italy and Charleston, SC., and was decorated by the Italian government for her support of the arts.  The Countess was also strongly committed to humanitarian and environmental causes and served on the United States commission for UNESCO, was President of the National Council of Women of the United States and The National Association of Physicians for the Environment.

1.  See H.J. van Miegroet, "The Twelve Months Reconsidered: How a Drawing by Pieter Stevens Clarifies a Bruegel Enigma," in Similous, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986, p. 32.
2.  Another set of four paintings from the Paolozzi collection representing The Four Seasons and ascribed to the Studio of Sebastian Vrancx, were sold at Christies, New York, 23 January 2004, lot 125.