Old master mean "boring"? Well, it's your choice. But those who had answer "yes", it's quite possibly that they had never face the astonishing pictorial oeuvre of the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (Milano, 1527 - 1593)

With the possible exception of Hyeronimus Bosch, Arcimboldo is the most original of all renaissance painters, a genius who -with his astonishing portraits formed with elements such as fruits, animals or objects- seems to anticipate vanguards of the 20 th century such as the surrealism. In this brief and subjective article I'll try to comment the best of his oeuvre

THE FOUR SEASONS

Arcimboldo painted numerous series about "The four seasons" (one in a private collection in Bergamo , painted about 1572; another, painted in 1573, in the Louvre Museum ) being each of them a copy without many variations of the previous one, which reflects the success of the series. The painter has represented the hypothetical faces of every season with the most typical element of any of them. So the face of the spring is made of flowers, the summer has fruit's face and wheat's body, while the autumn is a curious summary of fallen leaves, fruits and mushrooms. The series ends with the winter, arguably the most complex portrait of the entire series, in which we can find elements as "cold" and "dry" as the bark that forms the face, and others so "live" and "warm" as the leaves of the hair and the two fruits that hangs on the neck. Perhaps the optimistic Arcimboldo is unable to describe the winter as a "dead" season, adding kind elements to the less kind of the seasons.

THE FOUR ELEMENTS

As he did in "The four seasons", Arcimboldo assign to any element a face formed of the most characteristic of any of them. Nevertheless, the series possesses some elements that make it quite different, and even more interesting, than the previous one.

First, and contrary to the previous series, every face is formed by only one kind of element. The face of the earth is formed exclusively by land animals, the air by birds, and the water by fish and marine animals. A special case is the fire ( Historical Museum , Vienna ) represented by multiple blazing elements, from the embers that form the hair to the two cannons in his chest. Nevertheless, and despite this limitation, the paintings are quite more successful than the previous series.

In addition, we must point that this series has an evident connection with "The four seasons". In addition, both series are organised by a hypothetical "axis of symmetry", which confront the air with the spring, the summer with the fire, the autumn with the earth, and the winter with the water.

THE PORTRAITS

In addition to this series of canvases (elements, seasons), Arcimboldo also painted some individual portraits -many of them for the Emperor Rudolph II- in his original and unmistakable maniera.

Although the title of "most original work by Arcimboldo" can be much challenged, my vote is for the spectacular "The librarian" (c.1566, Skoklosters Slott , Sweden), a fabulous and imaginative work that, with his geometric forms and boundless fantasy, seems to anticipate the vanguards of the 20 th century.

The grotesque portrait of "The jurist" (two versions, one dated 1566 and conserved in the Statens Konstsamlingar in Stockholm , a posterior one in a private collection in Milano) is one of the most polemical works by Arcimboldo. First, who is the grotesque man in the picture? While many critics maintain that he is the jurist J. U. Zasius, others affirm that the man is no other than Calvin. Anyway, the man's face, which shares eye with the horrible plucked chick, is really disturbing.

The portrait / still life of Vertumno ( c.1590, Skoklosters Slott, Sweden) is perhaps the most ambitious work by Arcimboldo, an exuberant portrait of Rudolph II depicted as the god Vertumno, that the poet Gregorio Comanini described this way:

Look at the apple, look at the peach

how they are offered in both cheeks

rounded and full of life

Look at my eyes

Cherry-coloured one

blackberry-coloured the other

Don't fool yourself, it's my face

"Flora" (c.1591, private collection, Milan ) is a mature work, painted for Rudolph II, arguably less imaginative and interesting than the previous ones, but possesses an absolute technical perfection: it's really admirable to achieve such a detailed representation of every flower while the whole portrait keeps a coherent unity.

THE AMBIGUITY OF THE CANVAS - THE INVERTED PORTRAITS

Perhaps the best example of Arcimboldo's originality is the inverted portraits, apparent still lifes that, once turned 90º, are transformed into strange, disturbing portraits. "The roast" or "The cook" (Private collection, Stockholm) and "The market gardener" (c.1590, Civic Museum , Cremona) are the best and more famous examples.