Description
Giuseppe Arcimboldo – The Winter
| Year of creation: | 1573 |
| Original size: | 76 x 64 cm |
| Painting style: | Mannerism |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Located: | The Louvre, Paris |
The painting Winter represents the last artwork in the Seasons series. In keeping with the season, Winter depicts an old tree stump with cracked bark, reminiscent of the wrinkled skin of an old man, and his toothless mouth, represented by a mushroom, curves over a wart-covered chin .
Despite the dark image, there is no feeling that only cold is emanating from the painting, there is also warmth, as the author has placed a branch in the very foreground of the painting, from which an orange and a lemon hang, which conjure up at least a little warmth with their colorfulness.
The Four Seasons
This painting belongs to a cycle. All four are available here:
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Winter
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Spring
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Summer
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Autumn
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
Winter is painted as an old stump: cracked bark for skin, a snapped branch for the nose, a bracket fungus for the mouth, ivy and a straw mat for clothing. A lemon and an orange hang among the twigs, the only bright points. From a distance the stump turns out to be an old man’s face. The original hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
Technique: an oil painting reproduction on canvas, painted by hand in oils, one copy at a time.
