Porkopolis

Simon Bening

• 

• December, Slaughtering a Pig

• [from the Da Costa Hours, Belgium]
• (c. 1515), tempera colors, gold paint, and ink on parchment
• 6.75 x 5 in. (17.2 x 12.7 cm.)
• The Morgan Library
• 523 x 700 (73 KB)

• 

• December, Hunting wild boar

• [from the Book of Hours]
• (c. 1515), tempera colors, gold paint, and ink on parchment
• 6.75 x 5 in. (17.2 x 12.7 cm.)
• The British Library
• 473 x 700 (74 KB)

• 

• November, Carding Wool

• [from the Da Costa Hours, Belgium]
• (c. 1515), tempera colors, gold paint, and ink on parchment
• 6.75 x 5 inches (17.2 x 12.7 cm.)
• The Morgan Library
• 535 x 700 (79 KB)

• 

• September, Plowing and Sowing Seed

• [from the Da Costa Hours, Belgium]
• (c. 1515), tempera colors, gold paint, and ink on parchment
• 6.75 x 5 inches (17.2 x 12.7 cm.)
• The Morgan Library
• 525 x 700 (76 KB)

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About the Artist

Simon Bening, Flemish, (1483/84 — 1561). Simon Bening was one of the most celebrated illumination painters of the 1500s in Flanders. He was the son of the illuminator Sanders (sometimes called Alexander) Bening (d. 1519) of Ghent. Simon Bening specialized in books of hours, genealogical tables and portable altarpieces on parchment.

Bening worked in Bruges and represents one of the final sparks of the tradition of manuscript illumination as it was overtaken by the printed book. His work is characterized by his portrayal of emotion on his subjects’ faces and by their small hands and rounded heads, as well as his accurate rendition of the texture of cloth and his skill in representing perspective in landscapes.