The Seasons are the second of the three types of four canvas sets produced by the Bassano bottega in the 1570s. Like the Noah and Elements series, they were extraordinarily successful and many replicas were made. Between 1580 and 1600 the inventories of the Venetian court of Giudici di petizioni cite five series of the Seasons and a further 35 of paesi e animali, and, although there is no mention of authorship, it does not seem unreasonable to assume that most of them must have been produced by the various workshops of the Bassano family. The series of the Seasons, as Jacopo conceived it around 1574-75, was a completely novel feature on the Italian art scene as it did not rely on allegory. It was also the first time the subject was not painted for a specific site. The fact that Jacopo depicted the seasons by means of landscapes populated by people engaged in the characteristic tasks of each season (such as hunting and picking flowers in Spring, harvesting wheat and shearing sheep in Summer, sowing and harvesting in Autumn, and pruning and gathering around fire in snowy Winter) proved he was familiar with Northern European precedents, probably the engraving done by Hieronymous Cock in 1570 after designs by Peter Bruegel the Elder and Hans Bol. In 1648, Ridolfi gave a detailed description of four canvases by Jacopo depicting the Seasons at the home of the Venetian painter and dealer Nicole Renieri. Ridolfi added that Jacopo sent the first of these series to Venice, where it was exhibited in a corner of San Moise, and many more followed it. The finest series, attributed to Jacopo and Francesco, is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna: Spring (inv. 4.302) and Summer (inv. 4.303) are exactly the same size (78.5 x 110.5 cm), and Autumn (inv. 4.303) is slightly smaller (75.5 x 109 cm); Winter (inv. 2.869), with its almost entirely lost paint layer and of poorer quality; is attributed only to Francesco and probably did not belong to the original series. The landscapes depicted in the Vienna canvases include small biblical scenes: the Expulsion of Adam and Eve in Spring, the Sacrifice of Isaac in Summer; Moses Receiving the Ten Commandments in Autumn, and Christ Carrying the Cross in Winter. These scenes are absent from the series Ridolfi described at the house of Nicole Renieri and from other late series produced by the bottega, such as the Prado version.

The Prado Seasons are based on the Viennese set, from which their overall composition and several specific figures are borrowed, such as the young hunter with a red cap accompanied by two hounds in the Spring scene. Rising prominently above all these scenes in the distance is the monumental Mount Grappa, which reinforces the cyclical nature of the series and makes it easier to appreciate the changes inherent in each season. The differences lie in their smaller size and in the absence of small biblical episodes in the landscape, but also in their poorer quality. Although both sets were produced by the bottega, the Viennese version was executed by Jacopo and Francesco, whereas the Madrid series was entrusted to less talented members of the workshop. Although the set is quite dramatic, there are obvious deficiencies in the treatment of the anatomy of certain figures, particularly the women who are bending over (Text drawn from Falomir, M.: Los Bassano en la España del Siglo de Oro, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2001, pp. 234-235).