The lawyer
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| The lawyer |
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| Giuseppe Arcimboldo , 1566 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 64 × 51 cm |
| Gripsholm Castle |
The Jurist is a painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo from 1566 . At that time he was court painter at the court of Emperor Maximilian II.
description
The painting shows a male half-figure in half profile, who looks to the left. The face is made up of fish and plucked poultry. The figure wears a black cap. The fur-trimmed coat is half open. The upper body underneath is made from books and manuscripts. The black chest is a folder, the white sides protruding above form the collar. The lower end is formed by two books, of which the upper one bears the inscription ISERNIA, the lower BARTHO.
The chin consists of a trout tail, the mouth of a fish mouth. The cheek is a chicken thigh. The nose is the rump of a plucked chicken, the wings of which form the eyebrows, the eye of the chicken is also the eye of the man. The chicken's black feet form the mustache. The cheek is a leg of a large fowl, the wing of which forms the man's temple.
interpretation
The painting was interpreted as a portrait of Johannes Calvin by Olof Granberg in 1902 , this was widely recognized. Sven Alfons published another interpretation in 1957, according to which the picture represents Johann Ulrich Zasius , a lawyer and civil servant who administered the finances of the imperial family. This interpretation is based on two letters from contemporaries of Arcimboldo and Zasius, Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo and Gregorio Comanini , who connect the picture with it. Arcimboldo would have created the picture at the behest of Emperor Maximilian II.
The inscription BARTHO refers to Bartolus de Saxoferrato (approx. 1314-1357), who was the most influential scholar of the Middle Ages with his comments on the Corpus Iuris Civilis . ISERNIA refers to Andreas de Isernia , also a medieval legal scholar.
Zasius was disfigured on the right side of his face in an accident in which he was thrown from the carriage. In addition, one cheek was swollen from birth. Arcimboldo painted this portrait with the intention of amusing the emperor, and according to the testimony of both contemporaries, he succeeded in doing so.
Provenance
The painting is recorded for 1621 in Prague, 1652 in Kristina , 1814 in Ulriksdal . It has been at Gripsholm Castle since 1822 .
The painting is signed "1566, Giuseppe Arcimboldo F". A version of the painting in private ownership in Milan is unlikely to have come from Arcimboldo.
supporting documents
Görel Cavalli-Björkman: The lawyer , in: Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (Hrsg.): Arcimboldo. 1526-1593 . Exhibition catalog of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien 2008. ISBN 978-3-85497-118-4