Labors of the Months: August

Hans Wertinger's August from his Labors of the Months series presents the harvest activities at summer's peak, when grain cutting, threshing, and the ripening of fruits combined to create the most productive and demanding period of the agricultural year. August in the calendar tradition was typically associated with grain harvest, the collective labor of cutting, binding, and carrying the grain creating scenes of organized community activity that celebrated human industry in response to natural abundance. Wertinger's precise observation of the summer harvest landscape and the specific gestures of agricultural work give this calendar panel its distinctive documentary quality.

The painting demonstrates the technical conventions and artistic vocabulary of the period, with attention to composition, color, and the rendering of form appropriate to the subject.