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Arcimboldo: 16th Century SurrealistGiuseppe Arcimboldo
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Surrealism wasn't part of the vocabulary of 16th Century artists like Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Were these bizarre compositions combining fruit, flowers, and animals from his subconscious? What was his message? Inspiration? Arcimboldo's works were the precursor of modern art and the surrealists. |
Giuseppe (or Guiseppe) Arcimboldo was the son of an artist, Biagio Arcimboldo. Born in 1526 in Milan, Italy, his first forays into the art world were the traditional representations of the time. He received commissions to design the stained glass windows for Milan's Duomo. Among his contributions were the design for the Stories of St. Catherine of Alexandria window. He lived in Milan during the time when Carlo Borromeo was the Archbishop, who tightly controlled artistic examples of religious expression. Borromeo Borrromeo was the nephew of Pope Pius IV (formerly Cardinal Angelo de'Medici).
Title: Spring, 1573
Artist: Giuseppe Arcimboldo (Italian 1526-1593)
Medium: Wood
Dimensions: 76 x 63.5 cm
Permanent Collection and © : Paris, Musée du Louvre
Image Courtesy: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
In 1562 Arcimboldo became Maximilian II's court portraitist at Vienna Hapsburg's court. Eventually he would serve the same role for Maximilian's son Rudolf II at his court in Prague.
It is possible that Arcimboldo's inspiration came straight from Emperor Maximilian who was known for his abiding interest in the healing properties of plants and plant life. Maximilian collected rare animals famously entering Vienna in a royal parade of 1552 including a menagerie of exotic animals from around the world including an elephant.
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Arcimboldo studied flowers, fruits, mammals, fish and birds and was a supporter of scientific research. His works were sent to Ulisse Aldrovandi, in Bologna. Aldrovandi was the best known naturalist of the time. Aldrovandi's treatises about his experiments and discoveries contain illustrations by Arcimboldo. |
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After Maximilian's death Arcimboldo was able to continue his studies thanks to Rudolf II's interests in art, Humanism and the natural sciences. Replicas of Arcimboldo's studies are found in the Museum sometimes called The Bestiarium of Rudolf II, which is a collection of illustrations of rare birds and mammals. Rudolf was a collector and had the largest 'cabinet of curiosities' in Europe at the time.
Arcimboldo painted a series of portraits of human heads created through an arrangement of fruits, vegetables and other items meant to depict the seasons, in 1563. This series led to his popularity in modern time after this work inspired the Surrealists and Dadaists during the early decades of the 20th Century.
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A few years later he made another series this time focusing on the elements, fire, water, air and earth. |
Both of these monumental series are included in an exhibition celebrating the genius and uniqueness of Arcimboldo that is currently on display at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Arcimboldo's imagination today breaks norms of perception and must have done so during his lifetime. He has been held up as the creator of “scherzi”, “grilli” and “capricci” or whimsy in art.
Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna:
through June 1, 2008
