Labors of the Months: March

Hans Wertinger's March from his Labors of the Months series presents the agricultural activities of early spring — plowing, sowing, and the first agricultural work after winter's cessation — that were among the most symbolically important moments in the agricultural calendar. The resumption of work after winter represented not just practical necessity but a kind of annual resurrection, the returning warmth and the response of the soil to human labor creating one of the oldest symbolic connections between agriculture and spiritual renewal. Wertinger's careful observation of the Bavarian spring landscape and the specific gestures of plowing give this calendar panel unusual topographic specificity.

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.