Master of the Months of Lucas

The Master of the Months of Lucas is a designation applied to an unidentified artist or workshop documented as active across the period spanning 1530 to 1732. The known output attributed to this entity consists primarily of detailed textile designs and preparatory drawings, focusing heavily on allegories of the seasons and months.

Twelve works attributed to the Master of the Months of Lucas are currently represented in museum collections, comprising eleven textiles and a single drawing. This verifiable documentation of the artist's output is held entirely by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The works detail genre scenes appropriate to specific times of the year, likely intended as models for tapestries or other decorative fabrics. Key examples of these compositions include the textile designs The Month of June, Shearing Sheep (recto); Couples Drinking Wine, The Month of October (verso) and April from a set of The Months of Lucas. Further documented pieces include works derived from the corresponding seasonal set, such as Autumn from a set of The Seasons of Lucas, Summer from a set of The Seasons of Lucas, and Winter from a set of The Seasons of Lucas. Given the age of these surviving works, detailed high-quality prints of the Master of the Months of Lucas prints are frequently sourced from public domain archives.