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David Teniers the Younger, 'Spring', about 1644

About the work

This is the first of a series of paintings by David Teniers in which the four seasons are given human form. Here, Spring is personified as a young gardener with a bushy beard, heaving a heavy pot containing a sapling. His step is jaunty and he has a gleam in his eye. His jacket looks new, and his red waistcoat and cap with the feather warm up the otherwise chilly background.

Overhead, wispy grey clouds bear the signs of April showers to come, and the trees in the background are leafless and windblown. A figure in a long gown walks up the hill – perhaps it is Winter making way for Spring.

Other gardeners dig the soil. They appear to have traced a pattern in the earth to follow when planting new trees, making a formal garden in the fashionable style set by French designers and followed with keen interest in Flanders.

Key facts

Full title
Spring
Artist
David Teniers the Younger
Artist dates
1610 - 1690
Part of the series
The Four Seasons
Date made
about 1644
Medium and support
oil on copper
Dimensions
22.1 × 16.5 cm
Inscription summary
Signed
Acquisition credit
Bought, 1871
Inventory number
NG857
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

About the series: The Four Seasons

David Teniers the Younger, 'Spring', about 1644

This series of four small paintings is an allegory of the seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter have been given human forms that embody the essence of each. Spring is a gardener carrying a tree to plant in a formal garden; Summer is a peasant tying up a sheaf of corn; Autumn is a drinker who raises a glass of wine; and Winter is an old man wearing a fur cap and mantle, warming himself near a brazier.

Strongly influenced early in his career by the Dutch artist Adriaen Brouwer, Teniers became the most famous painter of peasant life of his day, rivalling Brouwer’s rowdy, raunchy tavern scenes full of larger-than-life characters.

Spring
Spring
David Teniers the Younger
This is the first of a series of paintings by David Teniers in which the four seasons are given human form. Here, Spring is personified as a young gardener with a bushy beard, heaving a heavy pot containing a sapling. His step is jaunty and he has a gleam in his eye. His jacket looks new, and his...
Not on display
Summer
Summer
David Teniers the Younger
A young peasant – beardless and red-cheeked, with curly hair and a dreamy look in his eye – represents Summer in the second of Teniers' allegorical paintings of the seasons. Behind him the trees are in full leaf and the distance is hazy with heat; above, the clouds are light and puffy.The youth s...
Not on display
Autumn
Autumn
David Teniers the Younger
A wine drinker – a stout fellow with a handsome moustache – represents Autumn in a series of paintings by David Teniers that gives each season a human form. A white sash cradles a comfortable belly, and stretched over it is a wine-coloured jacket. His fat neck disappears into the collar of his ja...
Not on display
Winter
Winter
David Teniers the Younger
Teniers brings the cycle of the seasons full circle – and his series of paintings of the seasons to an end – with an old man representing Winter. Wrapped in velvet and fur, he hunches over to warm his hands at a brazier. His face is lined and wrinkled, his beard long and frosted with white. But h...
Not on display

More works by David Teniers the Younger

(Showing 6 of 20 works)
A Cottage by a River with a Distant View of a Castle
A Cottage by a River with a Distant View of a Castle
David Teniers the Younger
While many of Teniers’ paintings show an invented landscape, this view perhaps shows a castle in the distance that may one day be identified. Judging by the new shoots on the trees between the cottage and the river, this is a spring scene. But Teniers was never content with showing a pleasant vie...
Not on display
A Man holding a Glass and an Old Woman lighting a Pipe
A Man holding a Glass and an Old Woman lighting a Pipe
David Teniers the Younger
David Teniers the Younger was one of the most successful Flemish painters of the seventeenth century. His work was prized by important collectors, and he amassed great wealth and attained high status himself: he was awarded a patent of nobility in 1680. At this time there was a fashion for pictur...
Not on display
A View of a Village
A View of a Village
David Teniers the Younger
David Teniers painted caricatures in imaginary landscapes, a background to his comic characters. Here, three men stand facing each other in a circle. One reaches into an inner pocket and looks with a shifty half-smile at the man in the blue coat, whose straight back hints at a military background...
Not on display
A View of Het Sterckshof near Antwerp
A View of Het Sterckshof near Antwerp
David Teniers the Younger
David Teniers seldom painted identifiable buildings, but in this case the large house partially hidden by trees has been identified as Het Sterckshof near Antwerp. It belonged to Jacob Edelheer, who was city secretary as well as a collector of artworks and scientific instruments.The figures on th...
Not on display
An Old Peasant caresses a Kitchen Maid in a Stable
An Old Peasant caresses a Kitchen Maid in a Stable
David Teniers the Younger
David Teniers the Younger made his fortune painting bawdy scenes like this one. They were popular with wealthy collectors who were proud of their own good manners compared with those ascribed to peasants (they also found the pictures amusing).The unfortunate young woman on her knees has lost a sh...
Not on display
Christ Crowned with Thorns
Christ Crowned with Thorns
David Teniers the Younger
In a guardroom that looks more like a Flemish tavern than a prison, a crown of thorns is being placed on Christ’s head. This humiliating moment, recounted in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, was one of a number of such episodes in the lead-up to Christ’s crucifixion. Here, the henchmen wear...
Not on display
You've viewed 6 of 20 works