[Twelve months of the year].

Joseph Friedrich Leopold (1668-1726) was a publisher, engraver, printseller and bookseller in Augsburg, taking over the publishing firm of J.U. Kraus in 1719. His son, Johann Christian Leopold (1699 - 1755), succeeded him.

Leopold's Twelve Months are based on etchings by Robert Bonnart (1652-1733) that were most likely made in the 1690s. At least three versions of the series are known, one with a quatrain, one without (probably that which Leopold copied), and a third by Nicolas Bonnart junior, Robert Bonnart's nephew.

A Parisian painter and engraver, Bonnart grew up in a family of artists and art dealers. His work was divided into three main activities. First, he worked for Louis XIV, for whom he designed the 'Cabinet du Roi' (the King's cabinet) together with Frans van der Meulen, a Flemish Baroque painter specialising in battle scenes. Some of the paintings and engravings that Bonnard made for the Roi Soleil are now be found in the Chateau de Versailles. Second, on a more personal level, Bonnart sold some of his works to private customers and sometimes worked on commission for noblemen. Finally, Bonnart helped his brothers Nicolas I and Henry II by designing many fashion engravings to be sold in their art shops on the rue Saint Jacques. These etchings were later copied and sold all over Europe, and Bonnart was soon to be seen as one of the masters of the 'dessin de mode' (fashion drawings).