 |
| attributed to Hendrik van Balen Cybele and the Seasons, with Garland ca. 1615 oil on panel Prado, Madrid |
 |
| Giuseppe Maria Crespi Apotheosis of Hercules, with the Four Seasons ca. 1700 ceiling fresco Palazzo Pepoli-Campogrande, Bologna |
 |
| Bartolomeo Manfredi Allegory of the Four Seasons ca. 1610 oil on canvas Dayton Art Institute, Ohio |
ALL WORLDLY PLEASURES FADE
The winter with his griefly stormes no lenger dare abyde,
The pleasant grasse, with lusty grene, the earth hath newly dyde.
The trees have leves, the bowes down spread, new changed is the yere.
The water brokes are cleane sanke down, the pleasant bankes apere.
The spring is come, the goodly nymphes now dance in every place
Thus hath the yere most pleasantly of late ychangde his face.
Hope for no immortalitie, for wealth will weare away,
As we may learne by every yere, yea howres of every day.
For Zepharus doth mollifye the colde and blustering windes:
The somers drought doth take away the spryng out of our minds.
And yet the somer cannot last, but once must step asyde,
The Autumn thinkes to kepe his place, but Autumn cannot bide.
For when he hath brought furth his fruits and stuft the barns with corn,
The winter eates and empties all, and thus is Autumn worne.
Then hory frostes possesse the place, the tempestes work much harm,
The rage of stormes done make al colde which somer had made so warm
Wherefore let no man put his trust in that, that will decay,
For slipper wealth will not continue, pleasure will weare away.
For when that we have lost our lyfe, and lye under a stone,
What are we then, we are but earth, then is our pleasure gon.
No man can tell what god almight of every wight doth cast,
No man can say to day I live, till morne my life shall last.
For when thou shalt before thy judge stand to receive thy doom,
What sentence Minos doth pronounce that must of thee become.
Then shall not noble stock and blud redeme thee from his handes,
Nor sugared talke with eloquence shal lowse thee from his handes.
Nor yet thy lyfe uprightly led, can help thee out of hell,
For who descendeth downe so depe, must there abyde and dwell.
Diana could not thence deliver chaste Hyppolitus,
Nor Theseus could not call to life his friende Perithous.
– translated anonymously from the Odes of Horace and published (1557) in Tottel's Miscellany
 |
| Nicolas Poussin Four Seasons (Spring) - Garden of Eden 1660-64 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
 |
| Nicolas Poussin Four Seasons (Summer) - Ruth and Boaz 1660-64 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
 |
| Nicolas Poussin Four Seasons (Autumn) - Return of the Spies 1660-64 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
 |
| Nicolas Poussin Four Seasons (Winter) - The Deluge 1660-64 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
 |
| Francesco Foschi Winter Landscape with Figures ca. 1750-80 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
 |
| Francesco Foschi Winter Landscape with Peasant Family ca. 1750-80 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
 |
| Denys van Alsloot Winter Landscape 1610 oil on panel Louvre, Paris |
 |
| Francisco Goya Tapestry cartoon - Snowstorm 1786 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
 |
| William Williams Thunderstorm with the Death of Amelia (illustration of 'Summer' from James Thomson's poem, The Seasons) 1784 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
 |
| Caspar David Friedrich Monk by the Sea ca. 1808-10 oil on canvas Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin |
 |
| John Singer Sargent Mannequin in the Snow ca. 1891-93 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |