Renaissance Artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo - Surprisingly Modern

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4 years ago

This article is inspired by a post, Face Art, by @Sajib. He displays modern Face Art, which is a quite fascinating subject, but the idea is not entirely new. Some of the images in @Sajib's post are in Arcimboldo's style, although they are based on photos rather than paintings, and I'm pretty sure that the artist is influenced by Arcimboldo's work.

So, who was Giuseppe Arcimboldo?

Giuseppe Arcimboldo - Self Portrait - Original at National Gallery in Prague

He was a Milanese painter, 1527-1593, and is best known for his heads and faces, which were made of objects, such as vegetables, roots and fruit, sometimes even books and fish. He was a skilled painter, who also was a court portraitist at two different Habsburg courts. Although he made other art, more conventional for his time, it is his heads of vegetables, roots and fruit that are best remembered.

Here we have one of Arcimboldo's most famous paintings. It is a portrait of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, at whose court Arcimboldo was a court portraitist. He is painted as the Roman god of the seasons, Vertumnus. It's a painting from 1590–91. Original at Skokloster Castle, Sweden.

Below we have "Four Seasons in One Head", painting from about 1590. The Original at National Gallery of Art, U.S.

This is "Summer"from 1563. It is from a series, "The Four Seasons". The original is at Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

And finally, we have "Water",from the series "The Four Elements" from 1566. The original at Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Now, look at @Sajib's post, Face Art. Can you see the influence?

(Images of Arcimboldo's art are in the Public Domain)

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4 years ago

Comments

Another genius artist. 😮 I also checked Sajib's article sir, and the styles are really similar. 😮

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4 years ago

When I saw Sajib's post, Arcimboldo immediately turned up in my mind. If he had lived today, he could have made that type of art.

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4 years ago

You made me discover this artist, and I agree with you, these portrait are really modern in their approach.

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4 years ago

Yes, it is not exactly what one expects from the Renaissance.

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4 years ago

Arcimboldo was a true genius and an artist out of time. His paintings speak then and they speak now, transcending the subject and engaging us in the questions of reality, identity and the nature of humanity.

Thank you for offering us the opportunity to ponder upon these great works.

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4 years ago

That's how great art should inspire to deep thoughts.

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4 years ago

Interesting! I have seen those and other similar paintings before. But this is the first time i hear about Giuseppe Arcimboldo. I think the names of other more famous Italian painters kinda covered his name.

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4 years ago

Yes, the Italian Renaissance is so full of artistic superstars as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, etc., so it's easy to let those giants overshadow other interesting artists from that era. In the case of Arcimboldo, I think a lot of people actually recognise his faces of vegetables and roots, but few know his name.

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4 years ago

Absolutely right! I had no idea that tis kind of art is more than 400 years old. I thought it's very new. It's not that easy to have competiors like the legendary Leonardo, Raphael or Michelangelo all in the same era as yours. Arcimboldo is very underrated obviously.

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4 years ago