Spring

This painting belongs to a four-part cycle which was frequently repeated by the Milan artist for the Imperial court in Vienna and Prague. This particular series, which is now in Paris, had been commissioned by the Emperor Maximilian II for the Elector august of Saxony.

The Italian art historian Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo (L'Idea del Tempio della pittura, Milan, 1590) described Arcimboldo's allegories as "teste composte" (composed heads). The underlying principle of these compositions is the use of elements from an object area which is clearly distinct from others and in such a way that they add up to a personified figure. The individual elements as such do not have any mimetic properties; they only receive them when they co-occur with others.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 9 minutes): Joseph Haydn: The Seasons, Part 1 Spring, Introduction, aria and chorus