Il ritorno della mandria

In 1565 a wealthy Antwerp merchant named Nicolaas Jonghelinck commissioned Bruegel to paint the year as a set of large panels for a room in his house. Bruegel divided it not into four seasons but six, following the rhythm of farm work, and this one belongs to the darkening turn of October and November. Cattle are being driven down from summer pasture, a line of animals and herdsmen coming toward us along a road that bends into a wide valley. The trees have gone bare and brown, the sky is heavy, and rain looks close over the far hills. What's unusual for its time is how little the people matter. Earlier calendar pictures fussed over the peasants' particular chores. Bruegel lets the weather and the land take charge, and sets the herd small against a whole world tipping toward winter.