Description
Giuseppe Arcimboldo – The Autumn
| Year of creation: | 1573 |
| Original size: | 76 x 64 cm |
| Painting style: | Mannerism |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Located: | Louvre, Paris |
Arcimboldo imagined the person portrayed in the paintingAutumn as a composition of an already slightly decayed wooden cypress, held together by a few willow branches, from which a praying head emerges. The wealth of different fruits in this picture reminds us of the wealth of nature at this time of year.
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
The torso is a barrel of split staves held by willow withies, and out of it grows a head of autumn produce. A pear makes the nose, a pomegranate the chin, and the hat is heaped from grapes and vine. From a distance it is a contented man; up close, a harvest. The original hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
Technique: oils on canvas, painted by hand; the oil painting reproduction is made to order.
