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Tapestry depicting December.
Tapestry depicting January
Tapestry depicting February
Geometric military compass by Galileo Galilei
Jesus crucified between the two thieves
Gonzaga uprising
Blue sky
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Casket of Saints Cyprian and Justina
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Tapestry depicting December.
Tapestry depicting January
Tapestry depicting February
Geometric military compass by Galileo Galilei
Jesus crucified between the two thieves
Gonzaga uprising
Blue sky
Eight Emperor
Casket of Saints Cyprian and Justina
Jug
Voghera monstrance
The Gonfalon of Milan
Marie at the tomb

Tapestry depicting December.

Bartolomeo Suardi, detto Bramantino

Displayed in:

Museum of Decorative Arts

Museum of Decorative Arts

Piazza Castello, Milan

Open now from 09:30 to 17:30

Verified profile

Belonging to the cycle of twelve tapestries commissioned by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio and executed by Benedetto da Milano based on the design of the painter Bramantino, the Month of December is one of the most interesting pieces. Overlooked by the zodiac sign of Capricorn, the scene is set in a large hall; in the background, a winter landscape can be seen, with a majestic castle towering. The center of the composition is a cauldron in which salamis and sausages are cooking, mixed by a woman whom a man is trying to embrace. In the foreground on the left, a man is inflating pig intestines, making a balloon that a child seems very interested in. The scene in the background instead focuses on an old man, identified as the god Saturn, with a sickle and his feet tied by a wool thread, honored by a group of peasants. With great skill, Bramantino reuses and reinterprets ancient literary and iconographic sources. December is the month in which the pig is slaughtered, but the tapestry refers to this while avoiding gruesome images. The central theme of this series of masterpieces is the continuous and cyclical passage of time, accentuated by the gesture of each month, which invites to look at the next tapestry, focusing on the close relationship between man and nature. The characteristics of the month are also referred to in the inscription which translated reads: December brings joy, at home, for the newly born lambs and for bird hunting, it salts the pigs and also keeps the lazy children busy.
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Details

Title: Tapestry depicting December.

Author: Bartolomeo Suardi, detto Bramantino

Date: 1504 - 1509

Technique: Tapestry

Displayed in: Museum of Decorative Arts

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