Art Institute of Chicago

Spring, from The Four Seasons

Jan Saenredam

Date

1601

Medium

Engraving on cream laid paper

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Jan Saenredam’s Four Seasons engravings after his teacher Hendrick Goltzius’s drawings offer lush depictions of flora and fauna through changing times of year. The prints simultaneously follow a young girl and boy’s journey into adulthood. The discovery of the bird’s nest of Spring passes seamlessly into the harvesting of Summer ’s ripe crops. Autumn ’s root vegetables and fruits attract the interest of a full-grown goat and a pig, while the adults and their loyal hound skate the Winter away on a frozen river, oblivious of the sheep beset by a wolf in the background, or any of the season’s dangers.

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