Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593) was born in Milan, Italy. When he became famous,
he left Italy to work for emperors in Vienna and Prague. His style is called
Mannerism and shows how some artists broke away from the classical ideals of
the Renaissance to experiment with new ideas.
Arcimboldo created abstract portraits of people and ideas made from everyday objects. One of his best-known series portrayed the seasons.
Arcimboldo
painted "Spring" (left) in 1573. He shows spring as a young woman
made of spring flowers and foliage.
Arcimboldo also painted portraits called Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Other portraits he created were about air, water, fire, earth, and war. He also made portraits of different people like a gardener, a librarian, a jurist and a cook.
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