The Four Seasons: Autumn

Depictions of the four seasons in the early modern period often emphasized timeless agrarian seasonal activities. In this image of autumn, however, Abraham Bosse portrayed instead a group of middle-class people in contemporary costume. The men and women appear not as laborers bringing in the crops, but as drinkers sampling the harvest. As urban dwellers invading a rural space, they make a mess of it, overturning the table, drawing the sword, and tussling in the shadows—all indicators of taking too much liberty with the “new wine” ( du vin nouveau ).