The contents of cycles varied with date, location, and the purpose of the work. The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry was designed for the personal use of a great magnate, and was unusually large, allowing all the typical elements to be used in many months. It combines astrological and calendar information at the top, with a combination of the agricultural life of the peasant, the life of the elite courtiers, and illustrations of the Duke's many castles in the background of several scenes. A typical simple scheme was:
January - Feasting
February - Sitting by the fire
March - Pruning trees, or digging
April - Planting, enjoying the country or picking flowers
May - Hawking, courtly love
June - Hay harvest
July - Wheat harvest
August - Wheat threshing
September - Grape harvest
October - Ploughing or sowing
November - Gathering acorns for pigs
December - Killing pigs, baking
- but there were many variations, especially in major wine-growing areas, where more wine related scenes were included. Italian cycles often advance the agricultural scenes a month earlier than ones from the Low countries or England. The impact of the onset of the Little Ice Age has been detected in differences between early and late examples.
Sculpture cycles
Most sculptured cycles in Europe, especially when compressed into the archivolt of a portal, consist of an astrological symbol beside, above or incorporated in a sculpture or relief illustrating a monthly labour. A few sculpted examples of the many surviving are:
Chartres cathedral: west and north portal archivolts. Window, see below
Lucca Cathedral: large bas-relief panels with little Zodial signs, to the right and left of the main facade door
Fontana Maggiore, Perugia: relief panels showing monthly labours are amongst those surrounding the lower basin of the great fountain in front of the Duomo.
Otranto Cathedral: Zodiac signs and labours form part of the mosaic scenes which cover the entire floor.
Canterbury Cathedral: Zodiac signs and monthly labours are amongst the subjects illustrated in large inlaid marble floor medallions on the edge of the Trinity Chapel close to where the shrine of Saint Thomas was located.
St Augustine's Church, Brookland, Kent: large cylindrical lead font with reliefs of both Zodiac signs and monthly labours - a rare example in the UK both of such a font and of the combination of zodiac signs and monthly labours.
Carlisle Cathedral: the foliate capitals of the twelve piers of the choir each contain a figure representing one of the labours of the months.
Stained glass
The Labours of the months often occur in those rose windows that are dedicated to the Creation, the circular nature of the window suiting the cyclic theme. In these windows, the months are part of a complex iconographical scheme. Other windows have the Labours of the Months specifically as their subject matter.
