July (one of a series representing the labors of the months)

Art Historical Context

This delicate red chalk drawing by Jonas Umbach, created around 1690, belongs to a series depicting the traditional “labors of the months.” The theme, rooted in medieval calendar cycles, pairs each month with characteristic seasonal activities. Here, July is evoked through scenes of rural life, featuring houses, men, and women engaged in the rhythms of summer work and domestic routines. Umbach’s choice of red chalk lends the small sheet (just 3 ¼ by 4 ¾ inches) a warm, luminous quality well suited to capturing fleeting light and movement. The medium’s soft, velvety lines allow for both precise detail and gentle shading, suggesting the drawing may have served as a preparatory study or an independent cabinet piece intended for private collectors. Preserved in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, the work offers modern viewers an intimate glimpse of seventeenth-century seasonal imagery. Its modest scale and refined technique highlight the enduring appeal of calendar subjects as both practical records of rural life and elegant expressions of time’s passage.

About the Artist

Jonas Umbach · 1624–1693

Comment on works: Landscapes; History; Kitchen interiors; Birds