Winter
1563 | Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Arcimboldo had been imperial court painter in Vienna and Prague since 1562. As well as a portraitist, he was mainly renowned for his work as a producer and designer of courtly tournaments and wedding celebrations. In 1563, however, he created a series of paintings of the seasons, the uniqueness of which was the basis of the painter’s later fame. Made up of plant pieces and fruit, at no point on “Winter” can we see the surface of a natural face. The letter M on the collar’s tangle of straw hints at Emperor Maximilian who commissioned the series.
Arcimboldo had been imperial court painter in Vienna and Prague since 1562. As well as a portraitist, he was mainly renowned for his work as a producer and designer of courtly tournaments and wedding celebrations. In 1563, however, he created a series of paintings of the seasons, the uniqueness of which was the basis of the painter’s later fame. Made up of plant pieces and fruit, at no point on “Winter” can we see the surface of a natural face. The letter M on the collar’s tangle of straw hints at Emperor Maximilian who commissioned the series.
Artist:
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526 - 1593 Mailand) DNB
Time:
1563
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Italian, Lombard
Material/technology:
Limewood
Dimensions:
66,6 cm x 50,5 cm
Framed: 79,5 cm × 63 cm × 5,5 cm
Signed
Inscribed at lower right: GIVSEPPE ARCIMBOLDO. F.
Inscribed
auf der Rückseite: 1563 HIEMS
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 1590
Provenance
Painted for Archduke Maximilian, the later Emperor Maximilian (?); from the treasury of Rudolf II; 1748 in the Vienna treasury; from 1830 in the picture gallery