January from the Twelve Months Panels

Artist Karl Theodore Francis Bitter (Austrian/American, 1867-1915)

Date1892-93

CultureAmerican

MediumMarble

ClassificationSculpture

ProvenanceKarl Theodore Francis Bitter [1867 - 1915], by 1891; Collis Potter Huntington [1821 - 1900], 1891 - his death 1900; inherited by his wife Arabella Huntington, 1900 - her death 1924; inherited by Henry Huntington, 1924 - 1926; purchased at auction by John Ringling, 1924- 1936; donated to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 1936 - present.

Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936

Object numberSN11657.1

Since medieval times, January has been illustrated with scenes of hunting and of the cutting and transportation of wood. At far left, a boy sounds a hunting horn while a group of children at center carry off a felled tree. Winter is evoked by the children’s mittens and muffs and their footprints in the snow. At far right, two boys interact with a clock. The pose of the boy indicating the time recalls a figure from one of the best-known illustrations of the months to have survived from antiquity, the <i>Chronograph of 354</i>.

On View

On view

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