Four elements (Arcimboldo)
The Four Elements are a series of paintings that Giuseppe Arcimboldo painted in 1566. Each of the four images represents a personification of one of the four elements. They are so-called composite heads: Each head is composed of objects or animals typical for this element: birds for air, torches, candles, cannons etc. for fire, mammals for earth and Marine animals in the water. The pictures are shown as bust pictures in profile, with two heads each looking to the right and left. The paintings were created for Emperor Maximilian II.
The four pictures correspond to the four pictures of the four seasons from 1563 due to the pair of properties warm – cold and damp – dry. They can be combined in pairs: the warm and dry summer corresponds to fire, the cold and humid winter to water, the warm and humid spring to the air and the cold and dry autumn to the earth. The respective pairs look at each other if they are arranged accordingly.
The air
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The figure of the air is composed of birds and looks to the right. The body consists of a peacock , the breast of an eagle, both alluding to the Habsburgs: The Habsburgs featured the peacock in their coat of arms, the bird was prominently placed on a triumphal arch when Maximilian entered in 1563. The eagle is a symbol for the empire. The chin and beard are formed by a pheasant, the rest of the face by chickens and a turkey. The hair consists of many, densely packed bird heads.
The original from the original series has been lost, but there is a copy. The picture differs from the other paintings in the series in terms of format, but especially in terms of the carrier : it is painted on canvas, not wood. The picture is a workshop work of a later sequence of the elements, if not a copy.
The picture is in private Swiss ownership. It was previously part of the Swedish Wenner Gren collection, which is an indication that the picture is originally from Prague. Many of the pictures in the Habsburg collections were deported from Prague to Sweden in 1648.
The fire
The fire shows a left-facing head composed of objects directly connected to the fire: a large flint forms the cheek, the neck and chin are formed by an oil lamp and a large candle. A bundle of sub-ignition shavings represents the mustache. The nose and ear are two irons of fire . The eye is a white candle stub with a black, extinguished wick. A coiled fuse forms the forehead. The hair consists of burning logs of wood. The chest consists of firearms: a pistol barrel, a mortar barrel and a cannon barrel with a powder shovel are directed towards the back. The figure wears the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece , the Habsburg house order, around its neck . The imperial double-headed eagle can also be seen underneath: both are clear references to the House of Habsburg and the recipient of the series of paintings, Emperor Maximilian II.
The earth
The figure of the earth looking to the right is composed of mammals. Here, too, there are some allusions to the House of Habsburg: the antlers of the animals in the hair area form a kind of crown, the lion's skin from which the upper body is made refers to Hercules , who was traditionally identified with the Habsburgs. The sheepskin on the chest symbolizes the golden fleece. As with other composite heads, Arcimboldo takes no account of the size of the animals.
In a commentary on the picture, Gregorio Comanini points out that the arrangement of the animals in the face is based on the writings of Pliny the Elder . The composition of the head was probably interpreted from a physiognomic point of view. Comanini also narrates that all animals depicted in the painting were depicted from nature. The emperor made it possible for Arcimboldo to draw in his menageries. A whole series of animal drawings by Arcimboldo have survived, many of which can be identified as direct models for the painting.
Some features suggest that the painting was not created at the same time as the two pictures The Fire and The Water , painted in 1566 , even if the authenticity is indisputable. The picture is slightly larger and has a more fluid finish. Maybe it wasn't part of the original series, but a later series. This also indicates that some of the preliminary studies were made after 1566.
The painting was in the possession of the Habsburgs and was donated to the Joanneum in Graz by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1872 . From there it was exchanged in 1954 and has been privately owned in Vienna since (2008) and has since been on display in the Gemäldegalerie in Palais Liechtenstein .
The water
The water consists of a large number of animals living in the water. DaCosta Kaufmann lists 62 animals. Many of them can be identified down to the species or genus, but many fish cannot be identified more precisely. In addition to fish, a common frog ( Rana temporaria ), a loggerhead turtle ( Caretta caretta , around the collarbone), seals , corals , flatworms , annelids , a leech , snails and mussels , squids , crabs and a starfish can be seen. Given the abundance of species, the lack of common food fish such as herring and cod is striking.
Like Das Feuer, the painting has been in the possession of the Habsburgs since its creation and is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Image details
- Die Luft, c. 1566 (?), Oil on canvas, 74.4 × 56 cm, private collection, Switzerland
- Das Feuer, 1566, oil on limewood, 66.5 × 51 cm, signed Josephus Arcimboldus Mlnensis lower right . F. , inscribed IGNIS 1566 on the reverse . Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum , Gemäldegalerie, inv. 1585
- Die Erde, 1566 (?), Oil on panel, 70.2 × 48.7 cm, private collection Gemäldegalerie Palais Liechtenstein, Vienna
- Das Wasser, 1566, oil on alder wood, 66.5 × 50.5 cm, inscribed on the back AQUA , Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, inv. 1586
literature
The article is based on the following documents:
- Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (ed.): Arcimboldo. 1526-1593 . Exhibition catalog of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien 2008, especially pp. 147–156, ISBN 978-3-85497-118-4
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann: Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Die Erde . In: Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (ed.): Arcimboldo. 1526-1593 . Exhibition catalog of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien 2008, p. 151, ISBN 978-3-85497-118-4
- ↑ after Alexander Wied: Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Das Wasser . In: Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (ed.): Arcimboldo. 1526-1593 . Exhibition catalog of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien 2008, pp. 151–154, ISBN 978-3-85497-118-4