Description
Earth is a head that Giuseppe Arcimboldo assembled from land animals: the heads of a stag, a horse, a leopard, a wild boar and many others crowd together into the mass of the head, a small monkey sits on its edge, the large grey head of an elephant sits in the middle, and the shoulders are mostly a lion’s skin on one side and a ram’s curly fleece on the other. We make it as a hand-painted reproduction in oil on canvas, in fourteen sizes or a size of your own, and you receive a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Earth |
| Painter: | 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, fourteen sizes from 30 x 40 to 110 x 150 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. We say what can be checked against an institution or on the painting itself, and nothing else.
Earth – Giuseppe Arcimboldo
What does the painting show?
A head and shoulders built from animals that live on land, against a black ground. Here the figure is not a person with a name but an element: earth, made from the creatures that walk on it. Most of the animals are shown only as heads, fitted so closely into one another that from a distance they read as a single figure with a broad, dark outline. Antlers and horns rise from the top and the left side and give the head a jagged edge. Below, the shoulders are formed mostly by two large animals, a lion and a ram. The painting names no sitter, and we do not give the figure a name.
What is the head made of?
Near the top, a stag with branching antlers looks out from the centre, and beside it are the head of a horse and the face of a large cat. At the upper left a small monkey sits on the dark edge. On the left side, broad, flat antlers and long, curved, ridged horns stick out beyond the outline, and below them are a wild boar with a tusk and a brown, dog-like head. On the right, a spotted leopard, several horned antelope heads and a long, lithe brown animal fill the space, and near the lower right edge of the head a second spotted cat looks out. In the middle lies the large grey head of an elephant, with its ear and a curved tusk. Below it are the heads of an ox and of smaller animals. The lower part is taken up by a lion’s pelt with the lion’s head at the lower left, a small horned animal lying on it, a brown hide hanging in the middle with one hoof showing, and at the lower right a ram with thick, curly white fleece and a curled horn.
Why is this painting remarkable?
Because it gathers so many different land animals into a single head: tame ones such as the horse, the ox and the ram sit beside wild ones such as the stag, the boar and the leopard, and beside exotic ones such as the elephant and the monkey. Every animal is painted with its own fur, horn or hide, and yet from a distance all of them close into one figure. The contrast between the busy upper part, mostly heads and horns, and the two calm masses of the lion and the ram at the bottom holds the composition together. 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 series gives it: earth is shown through the animals that live on it. A further reading sees in the lion’s skin and the ram’s fleece on the shoulders signs of strength and rank worn like a cloak. That second reading is ours, not a sourced statement; we offer it only as an interpretation.
The motif among the painter’s works
Earth belongs to the four elements. The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna holds two paintings from that series and publishes their records: Fire and Water. The museum reads the elements together with Arcimboldo’s series of the seasons and pairs them: Autumn corresponds to Earth, Spring to Air, Summer to Fire and Winter to Water. The painting on this page is not one of the two held in Vienna, and we could not verify where it is.
The Four Elements
This painting belongs to a cycle. All four are available here:
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Earth
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Air
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Fire
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Water
As a matched group of four there is a single shared size today: 30 × 40 cm. Larger sizes exist for individual paintings, but not across all four at once.
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. Earth is demanding because of the many different surfaces side by side: the smooth grey skin of the elephant, the spotted coat of the leopard, the bristles of the boar, the mane of the lion and the curls of the fleece all need their own brushwork. Our painter first lays in the black ground and the overall outline, then the large forms, the elephant, the lion and the ram, and only then the many smaller heads, one by one. The antlers and horns come last, because they 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 60 x 90 cm is right. The smaller sizes, 30 x 40 cm and 40 x 60 cm, belong in a hallway or above a desk, where the individual animals can be made out close up. 49 x 70 cm and 60 x 90 cm suit a wall over a chest of drawers or a bed, and 70 x 100 cm and 80 x 110 cm a wall over a sofa. 90 x 130 cm needs a free wall with room to step back. The seven largest sizes, between 99 and 110 cm wide and 140 to 150 cm high, differ from one another by at most 11 cm in width and 10 cm in height. For the four elements hung as a group, 30 x 40 cm is the size all four share. We give no size for the original, because we could not verify one.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the fourteen 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: earth in the figure of a head made of land animals. The painting gives no name for a sitter.
Which animals can be recognised?
Among many others: a stag, a horse, a monkey, a leopard, a wild boar, an elephant, an ox, a lion and a ram.
Is this a print?
No. Every oil painting reproduction we sell is painted by hand, on canvas.
Which size should I choose?
If you cannot decide, take 60 x 90 cm. For a wall seen close up a smaller size suits better; for a large free wall, 90 x 130 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 the bar and ready to hang, or rolled in a tube.
What is the work about, in one sentence?
That earth is shown through the animals that live on it, gathered into a single head.
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 land animals, with a stag, a leopard, a boar and an elephant among many others, and a lion’s pelt and a ram’s fleece for shoulders.
- 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, fourteen 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 museum in Vienna, which holds Fire and Water from the same series, pairs Earth with Autumn.
