Giuseppe Arcimbold Paintings Are Fantastic

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books – that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognizable likeness of the portrait subject. Arcimboldo is known as a mannerist in the 16th century. The Mannerism was a transitional period from 1520 to 1590, which adopted some artistic elements from the High Renaissance and influenced the other elements in the Baroque period . The Mannerist tended to show close relationship between human and nature.
                           
Arcimboldo also tried to show his appreciation of nature through his portraits. In The Spring, the human portrait was composed only of various spring flowers and plants. From the hat to the neck, every part of the portrait, even lips and nose, was composed of the flowers while the body was composed of the plants. On the other hand, in The Winter, the human was composed mostly by the roots of the trees. Some leaves from evergreen trees and the branches of other trees became hairs while a straw mat became the costume of the human portrait.
               

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, was not only creative in his work but also way ahead of his time. He created beautiful portraits with drawings of vegetables, fruits, flowers, leaves, books, fish on a canvas in such a manner that the whole arrangement of these items made splendid paintings.

You can keep gazing at his work and be amazed at how he’s made grapes look like hair, or apples representing cheeks, or potato used as the nose, quite fascinating! Archimboldo was often referred to as the ‘Father of Surrealism’, because his paintings had the element of oddness around them and at the same time he had an innovative style that probably set him apart from other artists during the Renaissance period. Another painting based on the four seasons is called ‘Autumn’ made from potatoes, grapes, carrots etc., I like the way he has shown the beard and moustache with some kind of fern. Elements of nature form an important part in his paintings. This one is called Water, and doesn’t it look a bit creepy, made from 60 species of marine life, like seals, turtles, sharks, crabs, oysters and coral. Arcimboldo was certainly imaginative!