Giuseppe Arcimboldo, also spelled Arcimboldi, was an Italian Mannerist painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books.
Paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo
The Four Elements (Arcimboldo) (1566)
The Four Elements is a series of four oil paintings by the Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo which were created in 1566, during the Renaissance, for Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor. The paintings depict human faces in profile made up from different animals or objects. Air is represented by birds, Fire by burning wood and cannons, Earth by land animals and Water by marine creatures. The series attempts to express the creation of harmony from chaos by the careful arrangement of the wild animals to form portraits whilst also praising Maximilian by suggesting that he is a ruler who controls even the four primal elements.
After training in Milan, Arcimboldo became the court painter for the Habsburgs, to Ferdinand I at the court in Vienna and later, to Maximilian II and his son Rudolf II at the court in Prague. Giuseppe gained knowledge of exotic and local animals because at the time Prague was a cultural center and exotic creatures such as the lion and elephant were brought there from all over the world.
The Librarian (Arcimboldo) (1556)
The Librarian is a painting in oils on canvas by the Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo in the collection of Skokloster Castle in Sweden. It is thought to be a portrait of Wolfgang Lazius, a humanist and historian who served Holy Roman Emperors of the House of Habsburg.
Arcimboldo became official portraitist to Emperor Ferdinand I in 1562 and later to Maximilian II and Rudolf II. The Librarian is one of a series of paintings by Arcimboldo of members of Maximilian's entourage. Skokloster Castle dates the painting to 1562, though the painting is more often dated circa 1566.
Vertumnus (Arcimboldo) (1591)
Vertumnus is an oil painting produced by the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo in 1591 that consists of multiple fruits, vegetables and flowers that come together to create a portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Although Arcimboldo's colleagues commented that Vertumnus was scherzo, or humorous, there were intentional political meanings behind the piece, particularly regarding the choice of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Arcimboldo's choice to include these items was also an intentional reference to the Roman god, Vertumnus.
Vertumnus was presented to Rudolf II after its completion. It was looted by the Swedish army after the Thirty Years' War. Although art historians lost track of Vertumnus after this shift, it reappeared in 1845 in Sweden in Skokloster Castle, where it remains.
The Jurist (Arcimboldo) (1566)
The Jurist (Italian: L'Avvocato), also known as The Lawyer, is an oil-on-canvas painting by Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, painted in 1566.
It shows a member of the legal profession, whose facial features are depicted using meat and fish, and whose body is composed of legal documents. Two versions of the painting exist; the first, from 1566, is held by the National Museum of Fine Arts (Nationalmuseum) in Stockholm (acquired from a collection at Gripsholm Castle in 1866), and a later version is held by a private collector in Milan.
Spring (1573)
Arcimboldo - Les saisons - Le printemps - Sans cadre
The Gardener (Arcimboldo) (1587)
The Gardener (Italian - L'ortolano), The Vegetable Gardener or Vegetables in a Bowl is an oil-on-panel painting created ca. 1587–1590 by the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo, now in the Museo Civico Ala Ponzone in Cremona, Italy. One way up it shows a bowl of vegetables; the other way up it shows a human face by pareidolia. The face includes several suggestions of the male and female genitalia, meaning that it can be interpreted as Priapus, the ithyphallic pagan god of fertility and protector of gardens. The same painter also produced The Fruit Basket and The Cook.
Winter (1573)
Arcimboldo - Les saisons - L'hiver
The Fruit Basket (1550)
The Fruit Basket or Reversible Head with a Fruit Basket is a c. 1590 oil-on-panel still life painting by the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo. It is held in the French & Company collection, in New York. When inverted, it shows an anthropomorphic head by pareidolia. The same painter also produced The Cook and The Gardener.
Arcimboldo's reversible fruit basket painting is an early example of the fruit still life genre. It may have been the inspiration for Caravaggio's 1593 painting Boy with a Basket of Fruit. It may have also had an influence on Fede Galizia and Giovanni Ambrogio Figino, who would both later painted a number of fruit still lifes.
Summer (1573)
Arcimboldo - Les saisons - L'été
The Cook (Arcimboldo) (1570)
The Cook is a c. 1570 oil-on-panel painting by the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo, now in the Nationalmuseum, in Stockholm. It is a still life of roasted meats that, when the painting is turned upside-down, form a human face via pareidolia. The painter also produced The Fruit Basket and The Gardener, using a similar effect.
The allegory of Fire (1566)
The allegory of Fire combines objects that are related to fire. The cheek is formed by a large firestone, the neck and chin are formed by a burning candle and an oil lamp, the nose and ear are contoured by firesteels; a blond moustache is formed by a crossed bundle of wood shavings for kindling, the eye is an extinguished candle stub, the forehead area is a wound-up fuse, the hair of the head forms a crown of blazing logs. The breast is composed of fire weapons: mortar and canon barrels together with the respective gunpowder shovel and a pistol barrel. Prominently positioned in the picture is the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, beneath which the imperial double-eagle can be seen: a clear reference to the Habsburg House and the beneficiary of the series, Emperor Maximilian II.
Autumn (1573)
Arcimboldo - Les saisons - L'automne - Louvre-Lens