Giuseppe Arcimboldo
(1527-1593)
Giuseppe Arcimboldo was famous all over Europe during his lifetime but became a virtual unknown after his death in 1593. No one had previously painted his type of abstruse, fantasy Art. Most of his original paintings have been ‘lost’ over the years but those we do have are now regarded as the masterpieces they truly are. His work underwent a ‘revival’ toward the end of the 19th century and has been gaining in popularity ever since. Apart from these unusual fantasy pictures, he probably painted many more traditional ones, but most of these are among the ‘lost’ European works of art, they have simply disappeared.
I love his art!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this fabulous post and the reminder!! I haven't seen much of his work since my art history A level 20 years ago!!
You are a treasure Loretta!
:)))
ok, really weird. Could this have meant that this chap had a lot of children?
ReplyDeleteYes, this is really wild. All those things of the sea, you'd probably still be finding things in this painting for quite a while. The colours are very subtle and the textures amazing. All the collage of items really makes for some ugly human portraiture though. Question, if one had one's face painted in objects, what would one choose?
ReplyDeleteI have a vague recollection of seeing a small collection of still life paintings by Arcimboldo. It had to be a gallery showing or museum exhibition somewhere in my travels in Europe. I don't believe that it was in the US.
ReplyDeleteThe oddity of this is genius, but beyond my simple taste in art. I love the beauty of his portrait, and suppose it's a self-portrait. I wonder if he made each person of things that spoke of that person's personality...Interesting. Arcimboldo never showed up in the two "Art History" courses I had, though I've seen a somewhat modern painter (who I thought terribly original) copy this style. You've added to my education! Thank you.
ReplyDeletethese are all so good loreta thanks for posting them
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