January./February./March./April./May./June./July./August./September./October./November./December.

Title

January./February./March./April./May./June./July./August./September./October./November./December.

A set of twelve hand-colored sepia prints depicting the 12 months. Below each month, a poem about the season in English. After William Hamilton (1751–1801, England). Engraved by William Nelson Gardiner, Francesco Bartolozzi (1727–1815, Italy), and Gardner.

ca. 1810

Artist

Gardiner (1766-1814)

Gardiner was born in Dublin on 11 June 1766. He received support for his artistic studies and, after three years at the Dublin Academy, was awarded a silver medal. Gardiner then moved to London to try his luck and was first employed by a Mr. Jones, a maker of silhouette profile portraits. He also earned a living as a portrait painter, but gave it up in favor of working in the theater—as both a scene painter and an actor. Eventually, he worked for a Mrs. Beetham, who also made silhouette portraits.Through his acquaintance with the antiquary Francis Grose, he was placed with Richard Godfrey, the engraver of the Antiquarian Repertory. There, he learned the technique of chalk or stipple engraving. The publishers Sylvester and Edward Harding of Fleet Street employed him to produce engravings for their publications. He worked on Shakespeare Illustrated, The Economy of Human Life, The Biographical Mirror, The Memoirs of Count de Grammont, as well as on Lady Diana Beauclerk’s illustrations for John Dryden’s Fables and other works. His style resembled that of Francesco Bartolozzi, and Gardiner claimed to have created some of the engravings published under Bartolozzi’s name. He later worked directly for Bartolozzi.Gardiner also painted occasionally and exhibited works at the Royal Academy in 1787, 1792, and 1793. Eventually, he gave up engraving and returned to Dublin.Later, Gardiner returned to London, where he again worked for his former patron Edward Harding by copying portraits. He eventually opened a bookshop and publishing business in Pall Mall. Due to his eccentric clothing, behavior, and conversation, he became a well-known figure at auctions, and his shop was often visited out of curiosity.In this new professional path, Gardiner was not successful. He became increasingly negligent in his habits, took excessive amounts of snuff, and declined further. On 8 May 1814, he committed suicide—according to his own words, out of unbearable misery. A short autobiography by him was published in the Gentleman's Magazine in June 1814.

Historical Description

Seasons divide the year into different periods, which are delimited by astronomical data - so also calendrical - or by characteristic climatic properties. The description of the seasons in this article refers to the northern hemisphere of the earth, in the southern hemisphere they are calendrically shifted by half a year. Summer and winter can also be understood as halves of a year, for example as the northern summer half-year and the southern winter half-year, respectively. Different peoples distinguish other times of the year. For example, the Sámi in Scandinavia know eight seasons, Australian Aborigines in Arnhemland six seasons.In Russia, the rasputiza is known as the mud season, in each case during the melting of snow in spring and during the autumn rains.