The Jurist (painting)
The lawyer is a 1566 's painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. At this time he was court painter at the court of Emperor Maximilian II
Description
The painting depicts a male figure half in half profile, which looks to the left. The face consists of fish and plucked poultry. The figure wears a black cap. The fur-trimmed coat is half open. The upper body underneath is designed from books and manuscripts. The black chest is a folder, the above outstanding white pages form the collar. The lower end is formed of two books, one of which bears the inscription ISERNIA the upper, the lower Bartho.
The chin is made of a trout tail, the mouth of a fish's mouth. The cheek is a chicken leg. The nose is the rump of a plucked chicken, the wings form the eyebrows, the eye of the chicken is also the eye of man. The black feet of the fowl form the mustache. The cheek is a lobe of a large bird whose wings is the temple of the man.
Interpretation
The painting was interpreted in 1902 by Olof Granberg as a portrait of John Calvin, this was generally accepted. Sven Alfons published in 1957 a different interpretation according to which the picture represents Johann Ulrich Zasius, a lawyer and officer who managed the finances of the imperial family. This interpretation is based on two letters from contemporaries Arcimboldo and Zasius ' Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo and Gregorio Comanini that bring the picture with this in conjunction. Thus Arcimboldo would have created the image at the behest of Emperor Maximilian II.
The inscription refers to Bartolus Bartho de Saxoferrato (ca. 1314-1357 ), who was with his comments to the Corpus Juris Civilis at that time the most influential scholars of the Middle Ages. ISERNIA refers to Andreas de Isernia, also a medieval jurist.
Zasius was marred by an accident in which he was thrown out of the carriage, on the right side of the face. In addition, one cheek was swollen since birth. Arcimboldo painted this portrait with the intention to amuse the Emperor, and according to the testimonies of the two contemporaries, it is this succeeded.
Provenance
The painting is demonstrated for 1621 in Prague, 1652 Kristina, 1814 Ulriksdal. Since 1822 it is located at Gripsholm Castle.
The painting is signed " 1566 Giuseppe Arcimboldo F". A version of the painting in Milan private property should not come from Arcimboldo.
Documents
Görel Cavalli - Björkman: The lawyer, in: Sylvia Ferino - Pagden (ed.): Arcimboldo. From 1526 to 1593. Exhibition catalog of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, 2008. ISBN 978-3-85497-118-4
- Paintings (16th century)
- 1566