April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, the fifth in the early Julian, the first of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the second of five months to have a length of less than 31 days.
April is commonly associated with the season of autumn in parts of the Southern Hemisphere, and spring in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, where it is the seasonal equivalent to October in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa.
The zodiac signs for the month of April are Aries (until April 19) and Taurus (April 20 onwards). Reference: Wikipedia
April, The Bull Avril, Le Taureau Henri Meunier (Belgian, 1873–1922) Publisher: Dietrich et Cie.
Color lithograph with metallic pigment on card stock
After Joachim von Sandrart ALLEGORICAL FIGURES OF THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR: MARCH; APRIL; JULY; SEPTEMBER Quantity: 4 a set of four, all oil on canvas each: 118.5 by 93 cm.; 46 5/8 by 36 1/2 in.
Sold for 6,600 GBP at Sotheby’s in 2005
Image of a standing woman, in late 18th c. dress, facing left, outdoors and in outdoor dress (elaborate hat, parasol, gloves). Her head is inclined toward a nosegay which she holds up in her right hand. Her left hand, at her side, holds a closed parasol. The end of a balustrade, on which stands a potted polyanthus, can be seen to the left of the image. In the background is a landscape of parkland, with trees on the horizon line. The palette is mainly blues, greens and browns.
This is one of a set of 12 allegorical representations of The Months, produced c.1785, showing women occupied indoors or in the country, and wearing costumes appropriate to each month. A set of mezzotints by Carrington Bowles was published after these watercolours c.1790. Dighton was a colourful character, well known as a caricaturist but also remembered as an actor, drawing master and printseller and, somewhat notoriously, for stealing prints from the British Museum.
Pen and ink and watercolour
Reference: © Victoria and Albert Museum
Labor of the Month of April: Women Planting a Garden in Quadrants Order characterized the medieval garden: herbs and flowers were planted in a level place, organized in a grid by type (for example, fragrant and medicinal herbs in one section, flowering plants in another), and exposed to the sun. Here, an elegantly dressed lady holding a rosary gestures toward a garden, where a second lady plants (or perhaps harvests) herbs and flowers. The garden’s geometric design is characteristic of medieval European gardens, which derived from the ordered quadrants favored in Persian garden design
Reference: The Walters Art Museum
A set of six painted wood panels after the Twelve Months series by Claude III Audran the panels 18th century, the paintings refreshed and 19th century with a green grotesque style décor on a golden background, the months depicted by zodiac signs and associated mythological gods: Neptune and Pisces for February, Venus and Taurus for April, Apollo and Gemini for May, Jupiter and Leo for July, Vulcan and Libra for September, Diana and Sagittarius for November, within a silver and green-painted carved frame, on a later rococo style outside board forming a screen, each panel approx. 73cm wide, 248cm high (28 1/2in wide, 97 1/2in high). (6)
Sold for £ 10,625 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2015
April; a farmer leaning on a bull, seen grazing at centre; the zodiac sign of Taurus seen encircled top right; 1691 Etching
Reference: © The Trustees of the British Museum
