Arcimboldo Agua.jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (; also spelled ''Arcimboldi'') (1526 or 1527 – 11 July 1593) was an Italian
painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
best known for creating imaginative portrait
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
s made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. These works form a distinct category from his other productions. He was a conventional court painter of portraits for three
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
s in Vienna and Prague, also producing religious subjects and, among other things, a series of coloured drawings of exotic animals in the imperial
menagerie A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern Zoo, zoological garden. The term was first used in 17th-century France, in reference to ...
. He specialized in grotesque symbolical compositions of fruits, animals, landscapes, or various inanimate objects arranged into human forms. The
still-life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, boo ...
portraits were clearly partly intended as whimsical curiosities to amuse the court, but critics have speculated as to how seriously they engaged with
Renaissance Neo-Platonism Platonism, especially in its Neoplatonist form, underwent a revival in the Renaissance as part of a general revival of interest in classical antiquity. Interest in Platonism was especially strong in Florence under the Medici. History During the s ...
or other intellectual currents of the day.


Biography

Giuseppe's father, Biagio Arcimboldo, was an artist of Milan. Like his father, Giuseppe Arcimboldo started his career as a designer for stained glass and
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es at local cathedrals when he was 21 years old. In 1562, he became court portraitist to
Ferdinand I Ferdinand I or Fernando I may refer to: People * Ferdinand I of León, ''the Great'' (ca. 1000–1065, king from 1037) * Ferdinand I of Portugal and the Algarve, ''the Handsome'' (1345–1383, king from 1367) * Ferdinand I of Aragon and Sicily, '' ...
at the
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
court in Vienna, Austria and later, to Maximilian II and his son
Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–160 ...
at the court in Prague. He was also the court decorator and costume designer. Augustus, Elector of Saxony, who visited Vienna in 1570 and 1573, saw Arcimboldo's work and commissioned a copy of his ''The Four Seasons'' which incorporates his own monarchic
symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
s. Arcimboldo's conventional work, on traditional religious subjects, has fallen into oblivion, but his portraits of human heads made up of vegetables, plants, fruits, sea creatures and tree roots, were greatly admired by his contemporaries and remain a source of fascination today. At a distance, his portraits looked like normal human portraits. However, individual objects in each portrait were actually overlapped together to make various anatomical shapes of a human. They were carefully constructed by his imagination. The assembled objects in each portrait were not random: each was related by characterization. In the portrait now represented by several copies called ''The Librarian'', Arcimboldo used objects that signified the book culture at that time, such as the curtain that created individual study rooms in a library. The animal tails, which became the beard of the portrait, were used as dusters. By using everyday objects, the portraits were decoration and still-life paintings at the same time. His works showed not only nature and human beings, but also how closely they were related. After a portrait was released to the public, some scholars, who had a close relationship with the book culture at that time, argued that the portrait ridiculed their scholarship. In fact, Arcimboldo criticized rich people's misbehavior and showed others what happened at that time through his art. In ''The Librarian'', although the painting might have appeared ridiculous, it also contained a criticism of wealthy people who collected books only to own them, rather than to read them. Art critics debate whether his paintings were whimsical or the product of a deranged
mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
. A majority of scholars hold to the view, however, that given the Renaissance fascination with riddles, puzzles, and the bizarre (see, for example, the grotesque heads of Leonardo da Vinci), Arcimboldo, far from being mentally imbalanced, catered to the taste of his times. Arcimboldo died in Milan, where he had retired after leaving the Prague service. It was during this last phase of his career that he produced the composite portrait of Rudolph II (see above), as well as his self-portrait as the Four Seasons. His Italian contemporaries honored him with poetry and manuscripts celebrating his illustrious career. When the
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
army invaded Prague in 1648, during the Thirty Years' War, many of Arcimboldo's paintings were taken from
Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–160 ...
's collection. His works can be found in Vienna's
Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...
and the Habsburg Schloss Ambras in
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
; the Louvre in Paris; as well as in numerous museums in Sweden. In Italy, his work is in
Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...
, Brescia, and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut; the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado; the Menil Foundation in Houston, Texas; the Candie Museum in
Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
. The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid owns a painting of ''The Spring'' by Arcimboldo. He is known as a 16th-century Mannerist. A transitional period from 1520 to 1590, Mannerism adopted some artistic elements from the High Renaissance and influenced other elements in the Baroque period. A Mannerist tended to show close relationships between human and nature. Arcimboldo also tried to show his appreciation of nature through his portraits. In ''The Spring'', the human portrait was composed of only various spring flowers and plants. From the hat to the neck, every part of the portrait, even the lips and nose, was composed of flowers, while the body was composed of plants. On the other hand, in ''The Winter'', the human was composed mostly of roots of trees. Some leaves from evergreen trees and the branches of other trees became hair, while a straw mat became the costume of the human portrait.


Legacy

In 1976, the Spanish sculptor
Miguel Berrocal Miguel Ortiz Berrocal (Villanueva de Algaidas, Málaga, 28 September 1933 – Antequera, Málaga, 31 May 2006) was a Spanish figurative and abstract sculptor. He is best known for his mechanical puzzles, puzzle sculptures, which can be disa ...
created the original bronze sculpture interlocking in 20 elements titled ''Opus 144 ARCIMBOLDO BIG'' as a homage to the Italian painter. This work was followed by the limited-edition sculpture in 1000 copies titled ''Opus 167 OMAGGIO AD ARCIMBOLDO (HOMAGE TO ARCIMBOLDO)'' of 1976–1979 consisting of 30 interlocking elements. The works of Arcimboldo, especially his multiple
image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...
s and visual puns, were rediscovered in the early 20th century by Surrealist artists such as Salvador Dalí. The exhibition entitled "The Arcimboldo Effect: Transformations of the face from the 16th to the 20th Century” at the Palazzo Grassi in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
(1987) includes numerous 'double meaning' paintings. Arcimboldo's influence can also be seen in the work of
Shigeo Fukuda was a sculptor, medallist, graphic artist and poster designer who created optical illusions. His art pieces usually portray deception, such as ''Lunch With a Helmet On'', a sculpture created entirely from forks, knives, and spoons, that cas ...
, István Orosz,
Octavio Ocampo Octavio Ocampo (born 28 February 1943 in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico) is a Mexican surrealist painter. He grew up in a family of designers, and studied art from early childhood. At art school, Ocampo constructed papier mache figures for floats, alta ...
, Vic Muniz, and Sandro del Prete, as well as the films of Jan Švankmajer. Arcimboldo's works are used by some psychologists and neuroscientists to determine the presence of lesions in the hemispheres of the brain that recognize global and local images and objects.


Art heritage, estimates


Heritage

Giuseppe Arcimboldo did not leave written certificates on himself or his artwork. After the deaths of Arcimboldo and his patron—the emperor Rudolph II—the heritage of the artist was quickly forgotten, and many of his works were lost. They were not mentioned in the literature of the 17th and 18th centuries. Only in 1885 did the art critic K. Kasati publish the monograph "Giuseppe Arcimboldi, Milan Artist" in which the main attention was given to Arcimboldi's role as a portraitist.Werner Kriegeskorte (2000). Arcimboldo. Ediz. Inglese. Taschen. p. 30. With the advent of
surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
its theorists paid attention to the formal work of Arcimboldo, and in the first half of the 20th century many articles were devoted to his heritage. Gustav Hocke edrew parallels between Arcimboldo, Salvador Dalí, and Max Ernst's works. A volume monograph of B. Geyger and the book by F. Legrand and F. Xu were published in 1954. Since 1978 T. DaCosta Kaufmann was engaged in Arcimboldo's heritage, and wrote of the artist defending his dissertation "Variations on an imperial subject". His volume work, published in 2009, summed up the attitude of modern art critics towards Arcimboldo. An article published in 1980 by Roland Barthes was devoted to Arcimboldo's works. Archimboldo's relation with surrealism was emphasized at landmark exhibitions in New York ("Fantastic art, dada,
surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
", 1937) and in Venice ("Arcimboldo's Effect: Evolution of the person in painting from the XVI century", Palazzo Grassi, 1987) where Arcimboldo's allegories were presented. The largest encyclopedic exhibition of Arcimboldo's heritage, where about 150 of his works were presented, including graphics, was held in Vienna in 2008. In spite of the fact that very few works of Arcimboldo are available in the art market, their auction cost is in the range of five to 10 million dollars. Experts note that it is very modest for an artist at such a level of popularity. Arcimboldo's art heritage is badly identified, especially as it concerns his early works and pictures in traditional style. In total about 20 of his pictures remain, but many more have been lost, according to mentions of his contemporaries and documents of the era. His cycles ''Four Elements'' and ''Seasons'', which the artist repeated with little changes, are most known. Some of his paintings include '' The Librarian'', ''
The Jurist ''The Jurist: Studies in Church Law and Ministry'' or simply ''The Jurist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal and the only journal published in the United States devoted to the study and promotion of the canon law of the Catholic Church. It was ...
'', ''The Cook'', ''Cupbearer'', and other pictures. Arcimboldo's works are stored in the state museums and private collections of Italy (including Uffizi Gallery), France ( Louvre), Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, and in the US.


Art interpretations

The main object of modern art critics' interpretation are the "curious" paintings of Arcimboldo whose works, according to V. Krigeskort, "are absolutely unique". Attempts of interpretation begin with judgments of the cultural background and philosophy of the artist, however a consensus in this respect is not developed. B. Geyger, who for the first time raised these questions, relied mainly on judgments of contemporaries—
Lomazzo Lomazzo (Western Lombard: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Como, in the Italian region of Lombardy. It is situated halfway between Como and Milan. The ancient historical center of the town was founded on the top of a hill situated in ...
, Comanini, and Morigia, who used the terms "scherzi, grilli, and capricci" (respectively, "jokes", "whims", "caprices"). Geyger's monograph is entitled: "Comic pictures of Giuseppe Arcimboldo". Geyger considered the works of the artist as inversion, when the ugliness seems beautiful, or, on the contrary, as the disgrace exceeding the beauty, entertaining the regal customer. A similar point of view was stated by Barthes, but he reduced works of the artist to the theory of language, believing that fundamentals of Arcimboldo's art philosophy is linguistic, because without creating new signs he confused them by mixing and combining elements that then played a role in the innovation of language.
Arcimboldo speaks double language, at the same time obvious and obfuscatory; he creates "mumbling" and "gibberish", but these inventions remain quite rational. Generally, the only whim (bizarrerie) which isn't afforded by Arcimboldo – he doesn't create language absolutely unclear … his art not madly.
Arcimboldo's classification as mannerist also belongs to the 20th century. Its justification contains in Gustav Rehn Hok's work ''The world as a Labyrinth'', published in 1957. Arcimboldo was born in the late Renaissance, and his first works were done in a traditional Renaissance manner. In Hok's opinion, during the Renaissance era the artist had to be first of all the talented handicraftsman who skillfully imitated the nature, as the idea of fine art was based on its studying.
Mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...
differed from the Renaissance art in attraction to "not naturalistic abstraction". It was a continuation of artistic innovation in the late Middle Ages—art embodying ideas. According to G. Hok, in consciousness there is concetto—the concept of a picture or a picture of the concept, an intellectual prototype. Arcimboldo, making a start from concetti, painted metaphorical and fantastic pictures, extremely typical for manneristic art. In ''
On Ugliness ''On Ugliness'' ( it, Storia della bruttezza) is a 2007 essay by Italian author Umberto Eco, originally published by Bompiani in 2007. The book is a continuation of Eco's 2004 aesthetic work '' On Beauty: A History of a Western Idea''. Like the pr ...
'', which was published under Umberto Eco's edition, Arcimboldo also admitted belonging to manneristic tradition for which "...the preference for aspiration to strange, extravagant and shapeless over expressional fine" is peculiar. In the work ''Arcimboldo and archimboldesk'', F. Legrand and F. Xu tried to reconstruct the artist's philosophical views. They came to a conclusion that the views represented a kind of Platonic pantheism. The key to reconstruction of Arcimboldo's outlook seemed to them to be in the symbolism of court celebrations staged by the artist, and in his allegorical series. According to Plato's dialogues " Timaeus", an immemorial god created the Universe from chaos by a combination of four elements – fire, water, air and the earth, as defines all-encompassing unity. In T. DaCosta Kauffman's works serious interpretation of heritage of Arcimboldo in the context of culture of the 16th century is carried out consistently. Kauffman in general was skeptical about attribution of works by Arcimboldo, and recognized as undoubted originals only four pictures, those with a signature of the artist. He based the interpretation on the text of the unpublished poem by J. Fonteo "The picture ''Seasons'' and ''Four Elements'' of the imperial artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo". According to Fonteo, the allegorical cycles of Arcimboldo transfer ideas of greatness of the emperor. The harmony in which fruits and animals are combined into images of the human head symbolizes harmony of the empire under the good board of the Habsburgs. Images of seasons and elements are always presented in profile, but thus ''Winter'' and ''Water'', ''Spring'' and ''Air'', ''Summer'' and ''Fire'', ''Fall'' and ''Earth'' are turned to each other. In each cycle symmetry is also observed: two heads look to the right, and two — to the left. Seasons alternate in an invariable order, symbolizing both constancy of the nature and eternity of board of the Habsburgs' house. The political symbolism also hints at it: at the image of ''Air'' there are Habsburg symbols — a peacock and an eagle and ''Fire'' is decorated with a chain of the Award of the Golden Fleece, a great master of which by tradition was a head of a reigning dynasty. However it is made of flints and shod steel. Guns also point to the aggressive beginning. The Habsburg symbolics is present in the picture ''Earth'', where the lion's skin designates a heraldic sign of Bohemia. Pearls and corals similar to cervine horns in ''Water'' hint at the same.


In literature and popular culture

A number of writers from seventeenth-century Spain allude to his work, given that Philip II had acquired some of Arcimboldo's paintings. Grotesque images in the Miguel de Cervantes novel '' Don Quixote'', such as an immense fake nose, recall his work. He also appears in the works of Francisco de Quevedo. Turning to contemporary Latin American literature, he appears in Roberto Bolaño's ''2666'', in which the author uses the painter's name for one of the main characters, Benno von Archimboldi. Arcimboldo's painting ''Water'' was used as the cover of the 1975 album '' Masque'' by the progressive rock band Kansas, and was also shown on the cover of the 1977 Paladin edition of Thomas Szasz's ''
The Myth of Mental Illness ''The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct'' is a 1961 book by the psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, in which the author criticizes psychiatry and argues against the concept of mental illness. It received much publicity, an ...
''. The 1992 novelette ''The Coming of Vertumnus'' by Ian Watson counterpoints the innate surrealism of the eponymous work against a drug-induced altered mental state. In Harry Turtledove's 1993 fantasy detective novel, ''
The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump ''The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Harry Turtledove, published by Baen Books in 1993. Premise and setting While having some aspects of an alternate history, it is mainly a work of science fantasy depicti ...
'', the
alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
's version of Arcimboldo incorporated imps – a common, everyday sight in that world – along with fruit, books, etc., into his portraits. The logo of the '' Arkangel Shakespeare'' audiobooks, released from 1998 onwards, is a portrait of William Shakespeare made out of books, in the style of Arcimboldo's ''Librarian''. Arcimboldo-style fruit people appear as characters in the films ''
The Tale of Despereaux ''The Tale of Despereaux'' (, ) is a 2003 children's fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo. The main plot follows the adventures of a mouse named Despereaux Tilling, as he sets out on his quest to rescue a beautiful human princess from the rat ...
'' (2008) and '' Alice Through the Looking Glass'' (2016), as well as in the ''
Cosmic Osmo ''Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel'' is a graphic adventure computer game for the Macintosh computer line (Plus, SE, SE/30, II Series, Classic, LC) created by Cyan, Inc. It was published in 1989 and won the 1990 Mac User's Editors' ...
'' video game series. Arcimboldo's surrealist imagination is visible also in fiction. The first and last sections of ''
2666 ''2666'' is the last novel by Roberto Bolaño. It was released in 2004, a year after Bolaño's death. It is over 1100 pages long in Spanish, and almost 900 in its English translation, it is divided into five parts. An English-language translat ...
'' (2008), Roberto Bolaño's last novel, concern a fictional German writer named
Archimboldi Benno von Archimboldi is a fictional character in the novel ''2666'' (2004) by Roberto Bolaño. Archimboldi is the pen name of German author Hans Reiter (born in 1920 and still alive in 2001, a 'great attractor' (one among many) the dense plotting ...
, who takes his pseudonym from Arcimboldo. A detail from ''Flora'' was used on the cover of the 2009 album '' Bonfires on the Heath'' by The Clientele. Arcimboldo is referenced in the 2020 revival of the '' Animaniacs'', Episode 4, as the main characters create a sculpture of him made of fruit.


Gallery

File:Giuseppe Arcimboldi 003.jpg, '' Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II. of Austria and his wife Infanta Maria of Spain with their children'', ca. 1563, Ambras Castle Image:The Lawyer, possibly Ulrich Zasius, 1461-1536, humanist, jurist (Giuseppe Arcimboldo) - Nationalmuseum - 15897.tif, ''
The Jurist ''The Jurist: Studies in Church Law and Ministry'' or simply ''The Jurist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal and the only journal published in the United States devoted to the study and promotion of the canon law of the Catholic Church. It was ...
'', 1566,
Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...
, Sweden Image:Bibliotekarien konserverad - Skoklosters slott - 97136.tif, '' The Librarian'', 1566, oil on canvas,
Skokloster Castle Skokloster Castle ( sv, Skoklosters slott) is a Swedish Baroque castle built between 1654 and 1676 by Carl Gustaf Wrangel, located on a peninsula of Lake Mälaren between Stockholm and Uppsala. It became a state museum in the 1970s and displays co ...
, Sweden File:Giuseppe Arcimboldo - The Waiter - WGA0835.jpg, ''The Waiter'', 1574


''Four Seasons''

File:Giuseppe Arcimboldo - La Primavera - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Spring'', 1563, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid File:Giuseppe Arcimboldo - Summer - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Summer'', 1563,
Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...
, Vienna File:Arcimboldo, Giuseppe ~ Autumn, 1573, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris.jpg, ''Autumn'', 1573, Louvre Museum, Paris File:Arcimboldo Winter 1563.jpg, ''Winter'', 1563,
Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...
, Vienna


''Four Elements''

File:Arcimboldo Air (copy).jpg, ''Air'', ca. 1566, (copy), private collection File:Giuseppe Arcimboldo Fire Kunsthistorisches Museum.jpg, ''Fire'', Oil on Wood, 1566,
Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...
, Vienna, Austria File:Arcimboldo Earth.jpg, ''Earth'', possibly 1566, private collection, Austria File:Arcimboldowater.jpg, ''Water'', 1566,
Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...
Vienna, Austria


See also

* Jan Brueghel the Elder *
Hidden faces People often see hidden faces in things. Depending on the circumstances, this is referred to as pareidolia, the perception or recognition of a specific pattern or form in something essentially different. It is thus also a kind of optical illusion ...
* Jan van Kessel the Elder * ''The Librarian'' (painting) * ''Hide-and-Seek'' (painting)


References


Readings

* DaCosta Kaufmann, Thomas. ''Arcimboldo: Visual Jokes, Natural History, and Still-Life Painting''. — Chicago — London: University of Chicago Press, 2009. — 313 p. — *


External links


Giuseppe-Arcimboldo.org
The Complete works by Giuseppe Arcimboldo *

'' Smithsonian Magazine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Arcimboldo, Giuseppe 1527 births 1593 deaths Artists from Milan 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Mannerist painters Italian portrait painters Italian still life painters Italian expatriates in the Czech Republic Austrian painters Czech painters Italian caricaturists