Description
Autumn is the head of a figure in profile after Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s invention, assembled from the harvest of the season: a large pear is the nose, an apple the cheek, a mushroom the ear, an open chestnut husk the mouth, bunches of grapes with vine leaves the hair, and a wooden barrel bound with withies the body. We make it as a hand-painted reproduction in oil on canvas, in fifteen sizes or a size of your own, and you receive a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Autumn |
| Painter: | after Giuseppe Arcimboldo |
| Original technique: | not confirmed – without an institution’s record we make no claim about the original’s technique |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, fifteen sizes from 30 x 40 to 122 x 145 cm, custom size on request |
We could not verify a published record of this painting at any institution, so we have no measured dimensions and no inventory number to rely on. That is why you will not find a year of execution, a collection name or an accession number on this page. About the original, we say only what can be checked against an institution or on the painting itself.
Autumn – after Giuseppe Arcimboldo
What does the painting show?
The head and body of a figure in profile, facing the left edge, on a dark ground. Here the figure is not a person with a name but a season: autumn, built from what the autumn harvest brings. The head sits on a body made of a wooden barrel, its staves bound with bent withies, and the hair and the crown are heaped with grapes, vine leaves and fruit. The painting names no sitter, and we do not give the figure a name. The ground is an almost even dark, so that every fruit and leaf stands out sharply against it.
What is the head made of?
The nose is a large, ripe pear, and the cheek a round apple. The ear is a mushroom with a red rim, and the mouth an open chestnut husk, its spines around the lips like a moustache. A bristly tuft forms the beard below it. The hair is made of bunches of black and red grapes with vine leaves, some green and some turning yellow, and on top of the head lies a large white pumpkin with a small snail on it. At the top right hang a pear and a chestnut, and at the top left sit a few small, elongated fruits. The neck rises out of the barrel, whose wooden staves are held together by withies, and between the staves lie an apple and a white root. The whole head leans slightly forward, towards the left edge. The fruit are painted in warm yellows, reds and greens, and the grapes in dark purple and red, so that the head glows against the dark ground while the barrel below stays in paler, cooler wood tones.
Why is this painting remarkable?
Because it joins two kinds of harvest in one figure: the fruit of the field and orchard in the head, and the wine harvest in the grapes of the hair and the barrel of the body. The barrel is what stands out: where Summer in Vienna wears a coat of woven straw, here the body itself is a wooden barrel. From a distance the parts close into a single, heavy profile; close up, each pear, grape and stave is painted on its own. The staves of the barrel are painted with their grain and the withies with their twists, so that the wood is painted as carefully as the fruit. How the painter built his heads is the subject of our article about Arcimboldo.
What does the painting mean?
The simplest reading is the one the subject gives it: autumn is shown through what the season brings in, the fruit, the mushrooms and the grapes. A further reading sees in the barrel the end of the harvest, when the grapes are pressed and the wine stored. That second reading is ours, not a sourced statement; we offer it only as an interpretation.
The motif among the painter’s works
The subject of this painting, Autumn, is one of Arcimboldo’s four seasons. Summer, a head of fruit and vegetables wearing a coat of woven straw, is held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, which publishes its record and pairs the seasons with the four elements: Autumn corresponds to Earth, Spring to Air, Summer to Fire and Winter to Water. The Louvre holds an Autumn from its own series of the four seasons. Compared side by side with the Louvre’s photograph, the painting we paint is a different version, and we could not verify where it is held.
The Four Seasons
This painting belongs to a cycle. All four are available here:
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Autumn
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Spring
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Summer
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Winter
Hung as a matched group of four, the sizes 30 × 40, 40 × 50, 50 × 60, 64 × 76, 70 × 80 cm work — every one of the four is available in them.
More on both cycles as a wall group: Arcimboldo’s Four Seasons and Four Elements as a wall group
How is our hand-painted version made?
Every copy is hand-painted in oil on canvas; none is printed. Autumn is demanding because of the contrast between the smooth, glowing fruit and the rough wood of the barrel. Our painter first lays in the dark ground and the outline, then the barrel with its staves and withies, then the large forms, the pear, the apple and the pumpkin, and only then the grapes one by one, each with its own highlight. The vine leaves come last, because their yellowing edges set the outline against the dark. The brushstrokes stay visible close up, and no two copies are ever quite the same.
Which size for which wall?
For most living rooms 50 x 60 cm or 64 x 76 cm is right. The smaller sizes, 30 x 40 cm and 40 x 50 cm, belong in a kitchen, a dining room or above a desk, where the grapes and the grain of the barrel can be seen close up. 70 x 80 cm and 80 x 100 cm suit a wall over a sofa, and 100 x 120 cm needs a free wall with room to step back. The eight largest sizes, between 115 and 122 cm wide and 140 to 145 cm high, differ from one another by at most 7 cm in width and 5 cm in height. Every size is the same oil painting reproduction, painted by hand; only the scale changes. In the smaller sizes the fruit and grapes read as a single warm mass; in the larger ones every stave of the barrel and every vine leaf can be followed. We give no size for the original, because we could not verify one.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the fifteen sizes fits, we paint in the size you ask for; send width and height through the paintings made to order page and we will prepare a quote. The painting is delivered stretched on a wooden stretcher bar and ready to hang, or rolled in a tube. You choose the frame on this page: the 3D frame selector offers 62 profiles, and the painting can also be ordered without a frame.
Delivery and guarantee
We paint to order, so it takes a few weeks, depending on size and on how busy the workshop is. We ship to sixteen countries in the European Union. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished painting; if something is not as you expected, we correct it before it goes out, at no extra cost.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
We could not verify any institution’s record of this painting, so we name no location. We state only what we can check.
Who is shown in the work?
No one by name: autumn itself, shown as a head made of fruit and grapes on a body made of a barrel. The painting gives no name for a sitter.
Is it the Autumn in the Louvre?
No. Compared side by side with the Louvre’s photograph, the painting we paint is a different version of the subject.
Is this a print?
No. Every copy is painted by hand, in oil on canvas.
Which size should I choose?
If you cannot decide, take 50 x 60 cm. For a wall seen close up a smaller size suits better; for a large free wall, 100 x 120 cm or larger.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
You can. We paint in any size; send width and height through the custom order page.
How is it delivered?
Stretched on a wooden stretcher bar and ready to hang, or rolled in a tube.
What is the work about, in one sentence?
Autumn, the season of the harvest and the vintage, shown as a head of fruit and grapes on a body made of a barrel.
Is the original for sale and what is it worth?
We do not know: we could not verify a record of who holds the original, so we give no value.
How high should I hang it?
Centre it about 145 cm from the floor; over furniture, with the lower edge 20 to 30 cm above it.
Is it suitable as a gift?
It is, and if you cannot pick a size you can give a gift voucher instead, leaving the choice to whoever receives it.
- Subject: a head made of the autumn harvest, with a pear for a nose, an apple for a cheek, a mushroom for an ear, grapes for hair and a barrel for a body.
- Original: we could not verify an institution’s record of the original, so we give no year, size or location.
- Ours: a hand-painted copy in oil on canvas, fifteen sizes or your own, with a photograph for approval before dispatch. You choose the frame on this page, or order the painting without one.
- Worth knowing: the painting we paint is not the Autumn in the Louvre; compared side by side, it is a different version.
