Allegory of Summer
Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem
c.c.1670
Berchem made the four seasons for an Amsterdam collector. They were inteded as overdoor pieces for his house on the Herengracht. The series became separated at the end of the nineteenth century. Summer has been at the Mauritshuis since 1992, but now the four seasons are reunited.
Each painting shows a medaillon with a chariot carrying the personification of the season. Figures and symbols connect each season with one of the four elements: spring with air, summer with fire, autumn with earth and winter with water.
Berchem is known mainly as a painter of Italianate landscapes, although he also painted decorative scenes, such as these allegories.
oil on canvas
94 x 88 cm.
NK Collection; on loan since 1992 and transferred into the museum's keeping by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands in 2010