Allegory of the Months February and March

Art Historical Context

This delicate drawing, *Allegory of the Months: February and March*, captures the transition from winter to early spring through a harmonious Flemish landscape. Created collaboratively by Pieter Stevens and Joos de Momper the Younger between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the work uses pen and brown ink with watercolor washes to depict human figures engaged in seasonal activities amid houses, trees, and rolling terrain. The medium’s fluid lines and subtle color allow for both precise detail and atmospheric depth, typical of preparatory or presentation drawings from the period. In the Northern tradition, such allegories of the months served not only decorative purposes but also reflected contemporary interests in the natural world, agriculture, and the passage of time. The inclusion of everyday rural scenes alongside stylized landscape elements highlights the artists’ skill in blending observation with imaginative composition. Now part of the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of Drawings and Prints, this intimate sheet offers modern viewers a window into how seventeenth-century artists visualized the rhythms of the seasons.