Master of the Months

(active c. 1220-1250)

Grape harvest (September)

, c. 1225-30

Verona Stone

Museo della Cattedrale, inv. MC045

The famous tile with the grape harvest, unanimously interpreted as depicting the month of September, is part of the series of sculptures from the ancient Porta dei Pellegrini, also known as the Porta dei Mesi, which opened on the right side of the Cathedral and was demolished between 1720 and 1736. The door was decorated with a complex decorative program by an anonymous master now called “dei Mesi” active in Ferrara between 1225 and 1230. Through several slabs, carved with extreme naturalness, attention to detail and a highly personal language close to the Gothic sculpture of the Ile-de-France, the Master of the Months created a unique decoration that still constitutes one of the most important achievements of medieval Italian art. The seasons and the passing of time are exemplified by agricultural activities, which find their best representation in the details. Thus it is that the sculptor plays with dense and regular carving to render the interweaving of the basket, dwells on the leaves of the vine to render the veins of the plant, and finally overcomes Italian formal rigidities with the soft arms furrowed by thin veins or the hair sprouting out of the bonnet.