Zes maanden van het jaar 1777

Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki made this etching, “Six Months of the Year”, at an unknown date. Here, each scene represents a different month, and together they depict a year in the life of a wealthy European family. Notice how agricultural activity and outdoor leisure dominate the warmer months, whereas indoor domestic scenes take precedence in the colder months. This reflects the seasonal rhythms of life for the upper classes of eighteenth-century Europe, where land ownership and social status were closely linked. Chodowiecki, who was active in Germany and France, was a key figure in the Enlightenment. His art engaged directly with the social structures of his time, often satirizing the excesses and inequalities of aristocratic life. Institutional records, such as auction catalogs and private correspondence, can tell us more about the reception of this and other prints by Chodowiecki, and about the social and cultural values that shaped their meaning.