The Hay Harvest

"The Hay Harvest" an oil painting on wood by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, dates back to 1565. It was originally part of a series of six panels, each depicting two months of the year, with this particular piece representing June and July. The series once adorned the dining room of Niclaes Jongelink, a merchant from Antwerp.

In 1594, the city of Antwerp gifted all six panels to Archduke Ernst. The following year, in 1595, the paintings were likely selected by Rudolf II during the division of his younger brother's estate. By 1659, only five of the panels were documented in the Vienna inventory of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. The precise moment when "The Hay Harvest" left the Imperial Collections remains unknown, but it was first recorded in the possession of the Lobkowicz family in 1870.

Today, "The Hay Harvest" resides in the Lobkowicz Palace, part of Prague Castle in the Czech Republic, where it remains a treasured piece of the Lobkowicz family collection.