Zomer 1592

Antonio Tempesta made this print called 'Zomer' in the Netherlands in 1592. Tempesta was an Italian artist who spent much of his career creating prints for a Northern European market. The image shows an allegorical representation of summer. We see the zodiac sign Cancer, images of harvests, and a reclining woman with wheat in her hair. These are all visual codes that would have been easily read by Tempesta's contemporary audience. But what kind of audience was this? The print market in the Netherlands at this time was booming; however, it was structured by strict guild rules. Studying the records of these institutions can tell us what kind of artist Tempesta was, who he worked with, and who he was selling to. We can see how artists built their careers within these institutions.