Four Seasons (Arcimboldo)
The Four Seasons is a group of four paintings in which Giuseppe Arcimboldo portrayed one of the four seasons personified in a so-called composite head: Each head is composed of many plants and plant parts that are characteristic of this season. The first of several series with this subject was created in 1563 for Archduke Maximilian . These are the first composite heads painted by Arcimboldo.
The images are shown in profile in the traditional, still widespread form of the bust. The individual pictures contain numerous allusions, for example to the House of Habsburg . They also represent an allegory of the four ages. In addition, the images with the four images of the four elements correspond to the seasons due to the pair of properties warm – cold and humid – dry and can be combined in pairs: the warm, dry summer corresponds to fire, the cold and damp winter to the water, the warm and damp 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.
First series (1563)
In 1563 Arcimboldo painted the first, so-called Viennese series. Summer and winter are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the other two pictures were long thought to be lost. In the meantime, however, the spring in Madrid is considered to be part of this first series.
- First series (1563)
The spring
The summer
The winter
- Spring, 1563, oil on oak, 66 × 50 cm, Madrid Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- The Summer, 1563, oil on linden wood, 67 × 50.8 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, inv. 1589
- Winter, 1563, oil on linden wood, 66.6 × 50.5 cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, inv. 1590
spring
Spring , now in Madrid , may have come to Spain as a gift to Philip II . An inscription on the back of the picture says that the picture was paired with the picture Die Luft .
The picture shows a young man looking to the left. Its head is formed from flowers, the chest from green leaves. An iris forms a kind of breast amulet. The white ruff is formed from white flowers. The lips are formed from roses , the teeth from lilies of the valley . In total, more than 80 plants were identified. Arcimboldo took no account of the proportions in his composition, and the species do not all bloom at the same time. As with the other composite heads, he made preliminary studies based on nature, which he then used.
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summer
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The summer is shown in profile looking to the right. The cheeks and neck consist of a peach , quince , garlic , white spring onion, yellow turnip and white eggplant . The lips are made of cherries , the row of teeth is represented by an opened pea pod . The nose is a young field cucumber, the chin a pear. The eye is a shimmering vistula between two small pears as lids. The forehead is made up of brown onions. The temples represent three hazelnuts in their shells. The ear consists of a corn cob , a rare novelty at the time that refers to the American colonies in Spain.
The headgear is a hat made of fruits and vegetables bedded on leaves, an ear of oats acts as a hat feather. You can see cherries, purple aubergines, grapes , plums , a melon , raspberries and blackberries , possibly a medlar .
The clothing is made of straw, the ruff is ears of grain. The only decoration on the clothing is an artichoke and the signature and year integrated into the weave: GIUSEPPE ARCHIMBOLDO. F. on the collar and 1563 on the shoulder.
The winter
The bust of winter consists of a single tree trunk. A broken branch forms the nose, the stubble is made of moss. Branches and ivy form the hair, the lips are two tree sponges. The eye is represented by a crack in the bark. A small branch grows out of his chest, from which two twigs, each with a lemon and two leaves, are hung. The cape is made of straw like in summer, but without ears. The pattern of the fire iron , part of the Order of the Golden Fleece , house order of the Habsburgs, is woven in, an M, Maximilian's monogram, is hardly visible on the back.
Series from 1572
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Three paintings from this series have survived. They are painted on canvas. The dating of 1572 suggests that this series was the first after the original for Maximilian. They are seen as variants of the hand of Arcimboldo. The winter has the fire iron like the Vienna version, that refers to the House of Habsburg. The Spanish inscription inbernio ( winter ) suggests that this series originally belonged to the Spanish Habsburgs. Summer and autumn have been in French collections since the Napoleonic Wars; today all three are in American possession.
The fall is of particular importance, but missing this in the first series. The torso of the figure looking to the left is made of barrel staves, as a medal it wears a rose hip . The head and neck are composed of autumn fruits, the hair is made of grapes on which a stemmed pumpkin sits as a cap.
- The Summer (1572), oil on canvas, 92.2 × 71.1 cm, Denver, Denver Art Museum
- The Fall (1572), oil on canvas, 92.7 × 71.76 cm, private collection, USA (on loan from the Denver Art Museum)
- Winter (probably 1572), oil on canvas, 93.2 × 71.5 cm, Houston, De Menil Collection
Series from 1573
This series is completely in the Louvre collection . It was originally painted by Arcimboldo on behalf of Emperor Maximilian for Elector August of Saxony . Accordingly, the Saxon coat of arms, the crossed Meißner swords, is woven into the coat of winter. The year 1573 is woven into the shoulder of summer. The paintings can be traced back to the Kunstkammer Dresden in 1595 and 1610, most recently in 1683. In 1969 the Louvre bought them from the Jean Neger collection in Paris. This series is the only one that has a border made of garlands of flowers and leaves. These were subsequently painted by another hand. Otherwise the pictures differ in a number of small things from those in the first series. A softer brushwork makes the colors lighter, the lighting appears more diffuse and uniform.
- Series from 1573
Spring (1573)
The summer (1573)
Autumn (1573)
Winter (1573)
- Spring (1573), oil on canvas, 76 × 63.5 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 1964-30.
- The summer (1573), oil on canvas, 76 × 63.5 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 1964-31.
- The Autumn (1573), oil on canvas, 76 × 63.5 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 1964-32.
- Winter (1573), oil on canvas, 76 × 63.5 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 1964-33.
More copies
There are a number of other copies, whereby copy by own hand, workshop repetition with the help of Arcimboldo and variants cannot be separated from each other. The following series are known:
- A complete series in the possession of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, three of which are in the Chamber of Art and Curiosities at Trausnitz Castle in Landshut. The pictures are varied in many details. They have been in the Munich Art Chamber's possession since 1598 and were probably made directly for one of the predecessors, Elector Maximilian I. The images are attributed to Arcimboldo's workshop, but not to himself.
- A series in Berlin, private property, oil on canvas, 76.6 × 57 cm each, dated 1572.
- A series at Sotheby's (July 11, 1973) dated 1573 on the sleeve of winter
- A series from Christies' South Kensington (July 6, 1996), dated 1572, each 69.2 × 49.5 cm.
The following series are copies after the Louvre series:
- Former Craven Collection, Hamstead Marshall
- Kunstkammer in Gottorf
- Valencia, privately owned
- Sarasota, Ringling Museum
- Paris, private property.
There are also three known copies of the winter. The list is declared incomplete in the 2008 exhibition catalog, and any double entries are not excluded.
Web links
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- Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (ed.): Arcimboldo. 1526-1593 . Exhibition catalog of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien 2008, especially pp. 124–144. ISBN 978-3-85497-118-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ after Sam Segal in: Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (Ed.): Arcimboldo. 1526-1593 . Exhibition catalog of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien 2008, p. 125f. ISBN 978-3-85497-118-4