Cleveland Museum of Art

Summer: Harvest Scene

Gobelins Manufactory

Date

designed c. 1535, woven mid- to late 1600s

Medium

Wool, silk, and gold filé: tapestry weave

Culture

France

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The wheat harvest took place in July and represented the hard, hot work of summer. The reaper in the foreground and his companion in the middle distance swing their scythes high above their heads as they prepare to cut the wheat stalks. Underneath the shade of an apple tree, three figures in the foreground are determining a price for the wheat. A woman gestures to the coins that the seated man is counting. Behind them another man holds an account book, in which he records their decisions. His pen holder and ink pot hang from his belt. In the distance to the right, two horses draw a cart piled high with wheat toward four farmers who gather bunches of wheat stalks together and tie them into bundles. Images of the harvest provided a way to express pride in the fruitfulness and plenty of a particular region and celebrate the diligence of the field laborers.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.