Spanish or Italian school, after JACOPO BASSANO (Bassano del Grappa, Italy, ca. 1510 - 1592); 17th century. "Allegory of Winter". Oil on canvas. Re-coloured. Size: 95 x 133 cm; 116 x 154 cm (frame). In this image of costumbrista character the author presents us a group of people concentrated in different tasks. The author structures the image in different planes, most of them populated by characters; some eat, others cut firewood, some seem to be talking and at the end others are warming themselves by the fire. In the last shot we can see the mountains that close the scene, completely covered in snow. This feature, together with the fact that the pig is being slaughtered, indicates that the author is trying to represent winter, not only through the snow, but also through the actions of the characters. This type of allegorical genre depiction, with the representation of the different works of the different seasons of the year, already existed in the Middle Ages, although in the Baroque period it was taken up again with a new genre vision that emphasised the values of genre painting and left the allegorical character in the background. Jacopo Bassano was a true pioneer in this field, as he was in fact a pioneer of genre painting in general. Thus, in the 16th century he painted works such as the one we present here, which are clearly genre paintings with a scenographic character in their composition, thus advancing Baroque genre painting by almost a century. Jacopo Bassano was one of the great masters of Venetian painting, the son and father of painters who specialised in works, both secular and religious, full of costumbrista characters and animals, heralding the creation of this genre in the following century. He was already highly esteemed in his day for his precision and taste for detail in depicting characters, animals and settings. His first dated work dates from 1528 and around 1533 he was already in Venice, where he began to use engravings by Titian, Dürer, Agostino Veneziano and Marcantonio Raimondi for his compositions, interpreting them in his own personal style. The following year he gained access to a more powerful and wealthy clientele through Andrea Navagero, at which point his work began to be more influenced by Raphael, and he moved towards a style closer to Parmigianino and Moretto around 1540.