ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeFour Seasons in One Head c. 1590 Oil on canvas, 44.7 cm x 60.4 cm National Gallery of Art , Washington

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeFour Seasons in One Head (detail)c. 1590 Oil on canvas, 44.7 cm x 60.4 cm National Gallery of Art , Washington

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeFour Seasons in One Head (detail)c. 1590 Oil on canvas, 44.7 cm x 60.4 cm National Gallery of Art , Washington

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeFour Seasons in One Head (detail)c. 1590 Oil on canvas, 44.7 cm x 60.4 cm National Gallery of Art , Washington

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeFour Seasons in One Head (detail)c. 1590 Oil on canvas, 44.7 cm x 60.4 cm National Gallery of Art , Washington

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeFour Seasons in One Head (detail)c. 1590 Oil on canvas, 44.7 cm x 60.4 cm National Gallery of Art , Washington

ARCIMBOLDO, Giuseppe

Featured Paintings in Detail

(1)

(Allegories of the Seasons and the Elements)

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSummer1563Oil on panel, 67 x 51 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSummer (detail)1563Oil on panel, 67 x 51 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSummer (detail)1563Oil on panel, 67 x 51 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSummer (detail)1563Oil on panel, 67 x 51 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSummer (detail)1563Oil on panel, 67 x 51 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSummer (detail)1563Oil on panel, 67 x 51 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSummer (detail)1563Oil on panel, 67 x 51 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSpring1563Oil on oak wood, 66 x 50 cmMuseo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSpring (detail)1563Oil on oak wood, 66 x 50 cmMuseo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSpring (detail)1563Oil on oak wood, 66 x 50 cmMuseo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSpring (detail)1563Oil on oak wood, 66 x 50 cmMuseo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSpring (detail)1563Oil on oak wood, 66 x 50 cmMuseo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid

ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeSpring (detail)1563Oil on oak wood, 66 x 50 cmMuseo de la Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid

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ARCIMBOLDO, GiuseppeFour Seasons in One Head

This work was painted for Don Gregorio Comanini, a Mantuan man of letters. He gives the following description of the painting in his dialogue Il Figino, published in 1591:

"Please have Comanino show you that piece of art that he made of the four seasons. The you will see a very special painting!A very knotty trunk represents the breast and head, some holes for the mouth and eyes, and a protruding branch for the nose; the beard is made

of strands of moss and some twigs on the forehead form horns. This tree-stump, without its own leaves or fruit, represents winter, which produces nothing itself, but depends on the production of the other seasons.

A small flower on his breast and over his shoulders symbolizes spring, as well as a bundle of ears bound to some twigs, and a cloak of plaited straw covering his shoulders, and two cherries hanging from a branch forming his ear, and two damsons on the back of his head represent

summer.And two grapes hanging from a twig, one white and one red, and some apples, hidden among evergreen ivy sprouting forth from his head, symbolize autumn.

Among the branches in the head, one in the middle is loosing a bit of its bark, and pieces of it are bent and falling off; on the white area of this branch is written 'ARCIMBOLDUS P.'.

This is how the painting is, in any case, and if you see it, it will please you wonderfully."

ARCIMBOLDO, Giuseppe

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian Renaissance painter known for his intricate paintings, which combined inanimate or found objects into a portrait that would resemble the portrait subject.

In 1562, he became the court painter to Ferdinand I of Vienna, and later for Maximilien II and his son Rudolph II of Prague. At this time, he was also employed as the court decorator and costume designer.

Most of Arcimboldo’s remaining works are of collected objects, which have been assembled to resemble people. He used fruits, flowers, vegetables, fish, and books, and other things, (among them slabs of meat), and arranged them in such a way as to not only resemble a person, but the person’s

resemblance as well.

Due to his strange rendition of the human figure, there is a debate among art critics as to whether or not Arcimboldo’s paintings are the work of a deranged mind. A more likely explanation, however, is that the

paintings are a product of the Renaissance era in which he lived, which was fascinated with riddles, puzzles, and the bizarre. If this was the case, then Arcimboldo’s strange depictions were only just

catering to the tastes of the time.

Many of his works were taken from Prague during the Thirty Years War by the invading Swedish army, and Arcimboldo was almost completely lost to history. His works were only just rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century by the Surrealist painters, including Salvador Dali, who were heavily

influenced by the artist’s unique style.