April in images from antiquity to the Renaissance

April is the middle of spring. And spring is the blossoming of everything around, blooming, love, courtship, songs, dances. The name of the month of April in most European languages comes from the Latin "Aprīlis". There are different variants of the origin of the meaning of the name of the month: "opening", "warmed by the sun", "the month of Aphrodite".

Spring and April are naturally associated with love and beauty. In ancient Rome in April, that is on April 1, they celebrated Veneralia, dedicated to Venus Verticordia and Fortuna Virilis, that is male, aged, masculine, but despite such a masculine name, Fortuna Virilis was patronized by women.

April panel from a Roman mosaic of the months (from El Djem, Tunisia, first half of 3rd century AD).

Venus, by the way, was originally the Roman goddess of gardens, and her name was used as a synonym for fruit. It is also assumed that Venus in early Rome was the personification of the abstract concept of "the grace of the gods". Later she was identified with Aeneas' mother Aphrodite, forever becoming the goddess of beauty and love, as well as the patroness of the Romans. Now we do not remember about the fruit-garden component of Venus. And Fortuna was originally the goddess of harvest, motherhood and women, who later became the lord of happiness, chance and luck. It is not accidental that the holiday in honor of Venus Turning Hearts and Fortuna Courageous fell on the first day of April.

San Isidoro Panteon Calendario. Aprīlis. 1167-1175.  Museo de San Isidoro de León

Not all languages in Europe derive the name April from the Latin tradition. In Finnish, the month is called huhtikuu, meaning "the month of burning trees," because in this month trees were cut and burned to clear land for farming. In Czech, April is called duben, from the word for "oak tree". In Polish, kwiecień, from the word for "blossom". The Turkish name of the month - Nisan - follows an ancient Middle Eastern tradition, having as its root the Sumerian word nisag - "first fruits".

14th century, late. Astrological and ecclesiastical calendar in six pieces. MS. Rawl. D. 939, Section 2c (verso), detail. Bodleian Library. Manuscript. Parchment. Country or nationality of origin: English. Feasts in April: St. Mary of Egypt, St. Richard of Chichester, St. Ambrose, St. Leo, SS. Tiburtius and Valerianus.

4th century, late. Astrological and ecclesiastical calendar in six pieces. MS. Rawl. D. 939, Section 2c (verso), detail. Bodleian Library. Manuscript. Parchment. Country or nationality of origin: English. Feasts in April: St. Alphege, St. George, Lion of St. Mark, St. Vitalis.

Easter most often falls in April. The Feast of the Resurrection of the Savior is inseparable from spring and the awakening of nature in its meaning and essence. Easter is the culmination of the Christian calendar, the holiday annually reminds of the death, sacrifice for the salvation of mankind and the resurrection of Christ. The date of the celebration of Easter at the dawn of Christianity was the subject of much debate. According to the Gospel, Christ offered the sacrifice of the Cross on the Jewish Passover.
Christians wanted to set a date for Easter that would not depend on the Jewish calendar, but would still fall at the beginning of spring. At the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, in 325, it was decided that the feast of Easter would be celebrated by all Christians on the same Sunday - the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. In the 8th century, the Nicene Church Calendar, a method of calculating the dates of transient feasts, is finally adopted on the basis that the vernal equinox falls on March 21.
This choice was fraught with serious consequences: because Easter was a transient holiday, the Christian calendar became very complex, simultaneously solar in the organization of the year and lunar in the organization of the Easter cycle. In order to calculate the date of Easter, deep astronomical knowledge was required. This greatly contributed to the development of the sciences.

The Queen Mary Psalter, England, between 1310 and 1320, BL Royal 2 B VII fol-74v. April. Miniature of a group of women picking flowers, from a calendar page for April.

The Church has dominion over the reckoning of time. Only learned men could calculate the date of the celebration of Easter, and thus of all the rites connected with it from Fat Tuesday to Pentecost. And only they were in a position to compile the calendar.
According to established custom, parish priests on the feast of Epiphany, January 6, announced from the pulpit the date of Easter; the power of the church over the calendar was complete in what did not concern the forces of nature.

This pocket calendar from about 1400 was intended to be used daily by farmers and therefore could be folded. In this form it had a size of 7,5 x 6,5 cm. Berlin Staatsbibliothek Lib. pic. A 92 p2 - Faltkalender.

Regardless of the power of the church, the natural annual cycle always continues to run its course, repeating itself endlessly from year to year. April is one of the most active months for the rural laborer. In Central Europe, it is the month when spring crops, vegetables, clover, etc. are sown, trees are cleaned and planted, meadows are irrigated, and various crops are transplanted.
For the elite, April means celebrations, revelry, falling in love, and walks among green, blooming gardens and forests.

15th century, beginning. First, third and fourth decades. MS. Laud Lat. 112, fol. 068r. Bodleian Library. Manuscript. Parchment. Author: Livy. Country or nationality of origin: Italian. Place of origin: Verona (?). Courtly man and woman walk by a wood. Spring 'Occupations of the Months' for April.

About 1468-1469. Francesco del Cossa. Fresco April.

The Hall of the Months /Salone dei Mesi in the Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara was painted at the request of the ruler of Ferrara, Borso d'Este (1450-1471). The program of painting was developed by the court astrologer of Este Pellegrino Priscani. The frescoes occupied the entire perimeter of the front second floor, not fully preserved. The fresco of each month consists of three blocks: the upper - the triumph of the antique god corresponding to the month, the middle - the sign of the zodiac and symbols of decades, the lower - scenes of mundane life. The scenes of the spring months were painted by the leading Ferraran artist Francesco del Cossa (c.1430/35-c.1477).
The patroness of April is Venus. The upper, "divine" register of the fresco depicts Venus traveling through the water on her "chariot" drawn by swans. Swans are an indispensable attribute of the characters associated with Venus. The goddess crowns the kneeling Mars: arms fall before love, power humbles itself before her charms. To the right and left of the ancient gods we see the land where young people are in the gardens of love. On the left we see scenes of courtship. Among the blossoming plants, young men and women, endowed with the most charming appearance and dressed in the most wonderful costumes, embrace, kiss and have tender conversations.

In the right part of the composition, the love scenes are accompanied by a musical theme and crowned by an image of three graces. We see an amazing richness and variety of costumes, jewelry and hairstyles. Here is a special harmonious Ferrara beauty, where both female and male ideals are quite close. This is characteristic of many works of the Renaissance, following antiquity. Gardens of Love is filled with rabbits, which remind us of fertility and voluptuousness at the same time.

In the lower tier are scenes with the ruler of Ferrara, Borso d'Este. Here Borso appears as a lover of entertainment and at the same time a merciful ruler, because he gives a coin to his favorite court jester. Borso's favorite dog is also here. The court costumes are more lavish compared to the youthful costumes in Gardens of Love. The upper left depicts the competitions taking place in the streets of Ferrara, or rather the idealized city: racing on unsaddled horses and a running competition. Such traditional competitions took place in Italy throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and even partially survived to the present day. The antique roots of these competitions are particularly emphasized.

The runners with bare legs, and some almost completely naked, do not appear to us as classical Greek beauties, but as a variety of characters. One of the competitors is very corpulent. Attention should be paid not only to the participants of the competition, but also to the spectators. Ladies went to the balconies decorated with carpets, on a festive day in the city everything is very dressy and bright. Men watch the jousting on specially displayed benches, covered and decorated. The whole town is focused on the event. A funny detail: on the frieze is written "ABCDEI". This means that there is an inscription here, but the artist did not find it necessary to come up with something meaningful.

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