Febbraio

Febbraio — February — from Leandro Bassano's 1597 Months cycle is a winter subject that complements the January panel as a companion representation of the year's coldest period. The Kunsthistorisches Museum cycle's February canvas depicts the activities and atmosphere of mid-winter: interior scenes of warmth-seeking, outdoor scenes of frozen landscapes, or the transitional activities of late winter as communities begin preparing for spring. Within the traditions of calendar illustration extending from medieval illuminated manuscripts to Flemish prints, February occupied a specific iconographic niche between the deep cold of January and the early stirrings of March. Leandro Bassano's interpretation filters this northern European iconographic tradition through a Venetian sensibility, substituting the coarser peasant types of Flemish imagery for his workshop's more polished figure style while retaining the essential seasonal drama of cold weather.

Canvas with a cool grey-blue ground tone suited to the winter subject, contrasting with the warmer grounds of the summer month panels. Leandro exploits the visual language of cold through cooler flesh tones on exposed skin, the grey-blue of sky and shadow, and the textures of heavy winter clothing shown in subdued ochres and browns.