Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Giuseppe Arcimboldo ( * 1526 in Milan, † July 11, 1593 ) was a painter of the late Renaissance, especially of Mannerism. Famous are his panel paintings, on which he presented flowers, fruits or vegetables, but also inorganic objects such as books and it composed surprising portraits or still life. In addition to his work as a painter, he worked at the Prague court also as an engineer, as a costume artist and as a musician. Of his works remained only get a part. Less commonly used forms of his family name loud and Archimboldi Arcimbaldo.
Life
From the early years of Arcimboldo 's virtually nothing is known. The earlier assumption that he was born in 1527, resulting from the entry in the death register Milanese, who held that he died at 66 years. Due to a long time unknown self-portrait that includes the year 1587 and age 61, now applies in 1526 as the most likely year of birth. His family had high clergy and lawyers brought forth, but also artists like his father Biagio. The earliest mention of his person comes from 1549, when he and his father worked on the design of the Milan cathedral together. From the files of the Milan cathedral, we know that this work continued until 1559.
The city of Milan, as the whole of northern Italy, was under the rule of Habsburg since 1525. 1562 came as a talented painter Arcimboldo conventional portraits and copyist at the court of Emperor Ferdinand I in Vienna. He remained there as a " house lock Fetter " under Ferdinand I. successors, Maximilian II and Rudolf II, Ferdinand I 's son, Emperor Maximilian II in 1564 appointed him court painter. Soon after, he created the first image sequences of the "Four Seasons" and the "four elements " in the manner that was typical of him. They were presented to the Emperor on New Year's Day 1569.
1570 Arcimboldo was sent to Prague to make a big parade with mythological themes for Maximilian. His ingenuity as a painter, but also in organizing parades, coronation celebrations, lavish weddings and the like was universally admired. As a painter, stage designer, architect, engineer and organizer in one person, he directed shiny, expensive festivals that were suitable to make the power of the emperor significantly to increase his fame and distract the people at least for a short time of his everyday misery. Since 1575 he was court painter of Emperor Rudolf II, Maximilian's son and successor. Rudolf II was a political rather insignificant emperor, but a very good friend of the arts and science and held a colorful entourage of artists, astronomers, astrologers and alchemists. Arcimboldo had for him to fulfill similar tasks as before for Maximilian.
In addition, he invented hydraulic machinery, dealt with a museum project and pursued his plan to transfer music into color values . For he was convinced that painting and music obey the same laws and therefore tried to develop a scientific theory that a fixed relationship between harmonious proportions of tones and semitones on the one hand and color shades would be the other.
It was only in 1587 allowed him to return Rudolf II in his home city of Milan, and so left Arcimboldo the Prague court. Rudolf II had previously confirmed his hereditary nobility and honored him with a coat of arms, 1592, he was honored with the non-hereditary title of Count Palatine.
The asteroid ( 6556 ) Arcimboldo was named after him.
The work
His fame owes Arcimboldo the intriguing portraits of flowers, fruits, animals, as well as inorganic objects, which he so artfully that they are composed with the help of the imagination of the viewer to the appearance of a human head. This associative images certified contemporaries often very similar to those shown people. Arcimboldo proves with this concept as a prominent representative of Mannerism, a style of the late Renaissance. The artists of the Renaissance had achieved a high degree of perfection and harmony in the replication of nature. Mannerism delivered a counter-proposal or a then modern extension of the possibilities. Now put individual artists like Arcimboldo her work, subjective ideas or fantastic ideas underlying that went decided on the classical harmonic representation. The allegorical or enigmatic ( mysterious, enigmatic ) imaging has been an essential style element of Mannerism.
Arcimboldo has numerous pictures of this kind created, including a portrait of the emperor Maximilian II, on whose head is represented as a composition of fish and seafood. Also known are his reversal images where first still life are seen from vegetables or flowers; they are turned upside down, they change to portraits.
Example in Spring. This is an image from the series Four Seasons, a topic that Arcimboldo has repeatedly taken up. The face of the person shown is formed of rose buds and single, unidentifiable flowers. The ear shapes from the flower of a peony, a columbine makes the earring, while lily of the valley are the teeth. Different flowers make the hair, which a white lily is placed as an ornament. The garment is composed of green foliage; recognizable are the leaves of cabbage, dandelion and wild strawberries. The collar is made of white flowers, including daisies.
Sample picture Vertumnus. For the multilayer, not always neat at first glance art Arcimboldo 's Vertumnus his image is 1591 a prime example. We first see a collection of precise and delicate painted flowers as well as field and garden fruits from all seasons. These combine to create a portrait with the facial features of Rudolf II. The Emperor also with umkränzter forehead appears as Vertumnus, the Etruscan- Roman god of change and transformation - allegorically indicated by changes in vegetation in the course of a year. On a fourth level, the successful summary can different parts are understood as a symbol (actually the pictures ) for the harmonious diversity of the imperial empire.
These and similar image - Arcimboldo's inventions gave the Surrealists of the 20th century suggestions, which are reflected in various works, for instance in Salvador Dalí's Face of Mae West as an apartment (gouache, Chicago ) and Spain (oil, Rotterdam).
Selections
- The Vegetable Gardener or a joke with vegetables ( reverse image ), Museo ala Ponzone Cremona
- King Herod, Portrait of children's bodies, Venice
- Rudolph II as Vertumnus, Portrait of vegetables, fruits, flowers; Skokloster
- Four Seasons, 1563
- Four Elements, 1566
- The librarian, Portrait of books
- The lawyer, 1566
The summer
The autumn
The winter
The air (Copy)
The water
The fire
The Earth
The Vegetable Gardener
The Vegetable Gardener ( reverse image )
The Librarian
Archduchesses Portraits
As court painter in Vienna Arcimboldo was the painter of Archduke indoor portraits, four ladies portraits of female members of the Habsburg imperial family policy.