The month of January, with the sign of Aquarius

Described as of ‘qualité extraordinaire’ by Reine de Bertier de Sauvigny in her catalogue raisonné (op. cit., p. 100), this panel and lot 18 originally formed part of a set of the Twelve Months of the Year by Jacob Grimmer. Both demonstrate an extraordinarily delicate application of paint and fine articulation of details, culminating in an evocative and deeply beautiful observation of landscape. The present work depicts the month of January, with the zodiac sign of Aquarius visible in the sky. Typical of Grimmer is the slightly elevated vantage point and high horizon; past trees devoid of leaves, a snow-covered village is revealed, with elegant ice skaters and groups huddled against the cold. Above the high horizon, a view of a city, possibly Grimmer’s hometown of Antwerp, is visible through the wintry fog.

Grimmer specialised in sets of paintings depicting the Twelve Months of the Year and the Four Seasons. Painted in both circular and rectangular formats, these works formed part of a long tradition of presenting the calendar months visually, typically depicting activities associated with each season. This convention dates back to Medieval Books of Hours, such as the Limbourg brothers' Très Riches Heures executed for the Duc de Berry, c. 1411-1416, where saints’ days and other religious feasts were listed by month, and on the facing page an artist would illuminate a seasonal landscape with a secular activity connected to that time of year. Depictions of the twelve months and the seasons continued into the 16th and 17th centuries, when their greatest exponent became Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Grimmer’s predecessor, who established this genre as an independent category of painting.

The present work was one of four panels of the same size by Grimmer depicting months of the year (including October (lot 18), December and February) formerly in the de Vaulx collection, possibly Henri Foulon de Vaulx (1844-1929) or his son, André Foulon de Vaulx (1873-1951). They were sold in these rooms in 2000 and the panel depicting February is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bertier de Sauvigny suggested that four other pairs also listed in her catalogue (nos., 4, 6, 7, 8) were originally conceived as a set with the de Vaulx works, completing the series of 12 months (op. cit., p. 100).