Heads of Jewish tribes sent to reconnoitre the land of Canaan bring back enormous grapes and figs; representing autumn. Engraving by J. Pesne, ca. 1664, after N. Poussin.

Bible, O.T. Numbers 13.1-27: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes. So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it."

In the right middleground a woman standing on a ladder plucks oranges from a huge orange tree. Left, a man fishing. Left background, a fort on a crag

[Paris] : Steph. Gantrel cum priuil. Regis, [1664?]

1 print : line engraving, with etching ; platemark 47 x 61.4 cm

Autumnus. L'automne. Misit Moyses ad considerandam terram Chanaan, Erat autem tempus quando jam præcoquæ uvæ vesci possunt. Pergentesque usque ad torrentem Botri, absciderunt palmitem cum uva sua, quem portaverunt in vecte duo viri, de malis quoque granatis et de ficis loci illius, qui appellatus est Torrens botri. Num. 13. Moyse envoya reconnoître la terre de Chanaan ... ils coupèrent un sep de vigne avec son raisin que 2 hom(m)es porterent sur une perche avec des grenades et des figues de ce lieu ... aux Nombres ch. 13. N. Poussin invent. et sculp. ; Joan. Pesne sculp.

[State with Gantrel's publication statement].

Georges Wildenstein, Les graveurs de Poussin au XVIIe siècle, Paris: Gazette des beaux-arts, 1957, p. 314, no. 176

Wellcome Collection 3043779i