June

The series of the
twelve "Months" is the most illustrious cycle of tapestries in the
Museum. Each tapestry, woven in wool and silk, is dedicated to a month of the
year, for which it shows the human labours typical of the month, the fruits,
the vegetation and the weather. In each representation there is a didactic text
describing the characteristics of that month and of the relative zodiac sign,
placed in the upper right corner of each tapestry.

This tapestry cycle was made at the beginning of the sixteenth century,
commissioned by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio known as Il Magno (Milan, ca. 1440 -
Chartres, 1518) - Marshal of France and Marquis of Vigevano - in a factory set
up in Vigevano and directed by the tapestry maker Benedetto da Milano. The
preparatory cartoons are attributed to Bartolomeo Suardi known as Bramantino
and, from an iconographic point of view, refer to a late mediaeval conception
of the illustrated calendar, updated with the inclusion of classical and
Renaissance elements.

The tapestries remained the property of the Trivulzio family until they were
purchased by the Civic Collections in 1935.

The coherence of the twelve scenes and the recurring iconographic elements (the
decorated border, the coat-of-arms of Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the Sun, the
zodiacal signs) confirm the unitary origin of the series, which derives from
the invention of a single artist. The Trivulzio series of Months was also
designed to be displayed in a single room, as if to form a continuous frieze,
in counter-clockwise order. The direction is indicated by the gesture with
which the figures at the centre of each tapestry point to the Sun in the upper
left corner.

Today the group of tapestries is exhibited in the Sala della Balla of the
Museum, displayed in such a way that they can be read together and
continuously.

The border consists of a continuous frieze of hexagons and in the corners and
at the centre of each side is the shield of Gian Giacomo Trivulzio with its
green and gold vertical bands. The representation of agricultural work was
important to Trivulzio, both for his personal interest in agriculture, but also
to affirm a celebratory symbolism inspired by the Latin classics. Exalting
rural practices underlined his commitment to peace, as opposed to the
abandonment of the fields, synonymous of war. The tapestries thus appear as a
political celebration of Trivulzio, bearer and protector of peace in Lombardy
so that country folk might devote themselves to the work of the fields, to
feast days and ceremonies.

In the centre of the "June" tapestry is a young man wearing an
ample, orange-coloured robe, sitting in the shade of a canopy set up in the
middle of the countryside. With a two-pointed
spade he indicates the Sun, while on the left the peasants are engaged in
harvesting, activity of the month according to the most common Italian
tradition. On the right, other
characters are mowing grass, while in the background there is a cart loaded
with harvested wheat. The meal that awaits
the peasants when their work is finished is shown as a "still life",
composed of baskets, buckets, cutlery and bowls arranged with careful symmetry.

In this tapestry, objects and people are carefully balanced in space,
just as the architecture of the castle in the background is skillfully balanced
with the full mass of the trees.

The zodiac sign of the month, shoewn top right, is Cancer and the
caption, on the marble block on which the young man in the centre’s feet rest,
reads: «June brings each year the
toil of mowing the meadows, harvesting the ripe crops, with well-founded hope
in the work of the fields »(« TONDERE PRATA. MESSIBVS / FALCEM ARDIS SVPPONERE / SPE AEQVA LABORI.
AGRESTIB[VS] / DAT IVNIVS CVRA ANNVA»).