Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

Title: Allegory of August with Three Decans
Creator: Baldassare d’Este, painter, Ercole de’Roberti, painter, Francesco del Cossa, painter, and Tura, Cosimo, painter
Description: August was the month for hawking (for the nobility) and wheat threshing. Here the personification of August holds a handful of threshed wheat and stands atop a chariot pulled by two griffins. A man plows a field in the background while in the right foreground two men carry sacks of threshed wheat. In the register below the virgin of Virgo is surrounded by symbols of the three decans (a borrowing from Persian astrology) of this sign: a man casting seed, which signifies wealth, plowing, sowing, and the procreation of humanity; a black man holding a bag, signifying gain and covetousness; and a white woman signifying weakness and infirmity.
Source: WikiMedia Commons
Rights: Public domain
Subject (See Also): Allegory Animals Astrology Este Family
Geographic Area: Italy
Century: 15
Date: circa 1469-1470
Related Work:
Current Location: Ferrara, Palazzo Schifanoia, Salone dei Mesi
Original Location:
Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Paintings
Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Frescoes (paintings)
Donor:
Height/Width/Length(cm): /400cm/
Inscription:
Related Resources: Explanations for all the decan symbols: http://www.tarot.org.il/Decans/