The painting is part of a series of twelve canvases by the Flemish painter Jan Wildens that illustrate the months of the year in relation to the various human, agricultural, work and leisure activities that characterize the different seasons. The entire cycle, documented for the first time in Palazzo Rosso at the end of the eighteenth century, when it was still attributed to GotfriedWaals, during the nineteenth century was divided into the various Brignole residences - Sale and then came to the civic collections - twice and incomplete - by means of the donation and the legacy of the Duchess of Galliera: May, June, July, August and September were in fact destined for Palazzo Rosso, while January, April and November for Palazzo Bianco. Gathered in a single exhibition venue, the months of March and October are missing to complete the original series, remaining in the ancient villa Brignole - Sale of the Genoese suburb of Albaro, now home to a religious congregation, December, identified in a collection canvas private, and February, currently missing. The subject, typical of the Flemish iconographic tradition, was widespread in Genoa where, most likely, Wildens himself stayed during his Italian stay, which lasted from 1613 to 1616; the cycle is dated to 1614, in consideration of the fact that at least three of the canvases in this series bear this date. The scene dedicated to the month of January is set in a vast snow-covered plain, crossed by a frozen river that occupies the right side of the painting; the left is instead animated by a group of houses and a church. The typically Flemish landscape is crowded with many people engaged in different activities: skaters whipped by the wind, children with sleds or throwing snowballs, women who bring home the freshly bought bread, all portrayed with extreme realism, attentive to more anecdotal details and, at times, facetious of the story.
