The Month of April, the Sign of the Taurus from The Lucas Months series

From the Getty Museum record

This tapestry is part of the Lucas Months, a series of twelve hangings depicting seasonal activities of the months. Featuring the bull of the zodiac sign Taurus at the bottom, this tapestry represents April as the beginning of Spring. In the foreground, five elegantly dressed figures engage in noble leisure activities, like singing, playing musical instruments, and weaving flower wreaths. The background reveals a landscape reminiscent of the Flanders region in Northern Belgium, with a grand palace surrounded by a river, where a joyful party rides in a boat. On the left, two shepherds leading their herd, and grazing cows represent agricultural occupations of the month. The tapestry’s border mimics an elaborate blue frame with gilded patterns. The corner medallions featuring intertwined “L”s and the winged and crowned blue medallion bearing three fleurs-de-lis (stylized lily) signify its patron, King Louis XV of France (1710-1774). The hangings were a diplomatic gift from Louis XV to Count Heinrich von Brühl (1700-1763), prime minister to the court of Saxony in Eastern Germany. The tapestries were woven in the Royal Gobelins manufacture in Paris under the direction of Michel Audran, whose signature can be found in the lower right. The workshop produced a dozen suites of the highly esteemed Lucas Months. While the series’ name refers to the former attribution of the models, after which the tapestries were woven, to the Dutch painter and engraver Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533), they are now believed to originate from a destroyed set of tapestries from the first half of the sixteenth century, made by an anonymous master in the circle of Bernard van Orley (ca. 1492-1541/42), court artist of the Habsburg rulers.