Personifications of the Four Seasons

anonymous, c. 1565 - c. 1580

Giuseppe Arcimboldo worked at the imperial court in Vienna and Prague. In addition to actual portraits, he painted imaginary heads composed of flowers, plants, animals, kitchen utensils or food. Thanks to prints such as these, his inventions were also known and admired outside court circles. Since then they have been imitated so often that even nowadays one can speak of the Arcimboldo effect in relation to fantastically constructed works of art.

  • Artwork typeprint
  • Object numberRP-P-2017-1116-2
  • Dimensionsheight 175 mm x width 242 mm
  • Physical characteristicsets

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Personifications of the Four Seasons

  • Object type

  • Object number

    RP-P-2017-1116-2

  • Description

    De personificatie van de Herfst (Autunno) is opgebouwd uit een wijnton, druiventrossen, meloenen, granaatappels en andere vruchten en een paddestoel; de Winter (Inverno) uit een gevlochten mat, boomstronken, stamen, wortels en wilgentenen. Zie ook de pendant met de Lente en de Zomer.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    • collector's mark: Lugt 2228
    • watermark:
    • collector's mark: Lugt 2760

Creation

  • Creation

    • printmaker: anonymous, Italy
    • after painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

  • Dating

    c. 1565 - c. 1580

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    ets

  • Dimensions

    height 175 mm x width 242 mm

This work is about

  • Subject

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds

  • Acquisition

    purchase 2017-01-25

  • Copyright

    Public domain

Documentation

  • A. Griffiths, 'The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo', Print Quarterly, VI 1989, pp. 2-10 (het paar in de collectie van de Royal Library at Windsor Castle).

Related objects

  • Related

Persistent URL

Questions?

Do you spot a mistake? Or do you have information about the object? Let us know!