Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

006. MS M.399, fol. 3v

ca. 1515

Da Costa hours
Illuminated by Simon Bening (1483/84–1561)

Ghent, Belgium
172 x 125 mm
MS M.399, fol. 3v

Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), 1910

Occupations of the month: February―Three men are working in a vineyard. One prunes a vine with a knife, another ties a vine to a pole, and the third breaks ground with a pickaxe. A spade and poles are on the ground beside him. Beyond, two men appear in a window of a watchtower. On a further hill, a fourth laborer ties a vine to a pole. A fifth laborer plows a field with a plow pulled by oxen. In the background is a landscape with a river with boats. Small towns appear along the shore. Buildings surmount craggy hills flanking the river.
The scene is within an illusionistic wood frame.