Winter, Iconographic , this season, as well as the others, is characterized on ancient monuments. Ordinarily, in Ancient Greece, it is by women, and in Ancient Rome, by young men who have wings, that each season is personified, with the attributes that suit it.

On an ancient marble tomb, discovered in some ruins near Athens, winter is represented by the figure of a woman, whose head is covered with a fold of her dress; the spirit, who is next to her, is suitably clothed, and holds a hare [1] as a symbol, because hunting is the only exercise in the countryside at that time. On other monuments, winter is indicated by a suitably dressed young boy, with good shoes, wearing on his head a crown of branches without leaves, and holding in his hand wrinkled fruits, or aquatic birds, like geese, ducks, etc. See Seasons, Iconographic.

Some modern artists, who believed [2] they were working wonders in distancing themselves from the simplicity of antiquities, represent winter by the figure of an old man who is warming himself up; or a man covered in ice, with a very white beard and hair, and sleeping in a grotto; or finally, by the shape of a woman wearing clothes lined with sheepskin, and seated by a big fire.

Translator's Notes

1. In Jaucourt’s related article Saisons [Seasons], where some of these winter representations are also discussed, the spirit, or le génie, is described as holding un livre [a book] , which may be a printing typo in that original Encyclopédie article since in the original French version of this article (Hiver , Iconographique ) , le génie [the spirit] is described as holding un liévre , spelled with an acute accent over the e instead of the grave accent ( lièvre , or hare); and a hare would be symbolic of la chasse [hunting].

2. In the original Encyclopédie article, the past participle of the verb croître, i.e., crû appears (with circumflex accent, meaning grew, increased), not the past participle of the verb croire, i.e., cru ( no circumflex accent, meaning believed, thought). The past participle crû here is possibly a printing typo since croître is an intransitive verb and I don’t think it is followed directly by the infinitive; whereas croire ( cru ) has both a transitive form and an intransitive form, and in its transitive form it is followed directly by the infinitive, in this case faire : Quelques modernes ont cru faire des merveilles. Hence, my translation of this verb as croire , past participle cru ; and not as croître, past participle crû .