Composite and reversible heads
by Giuseppe ARCIMBOLDO

Arcimboldo was originally appointed official portraitist to the emperor, which meant that he received duties such as copying ancient Habsburg portraits. He later abandoned the conventions of court portraiture and depicted his subjects in accordance with the same principles used in the series of Seasons and Elements.

Arcimboldo also took his figures from classical mythology: he depicted Rudolf II as Vertumnus, the ancient Roman god of vegetation, and painted several versions of Flora. He executed portraits made up of household equipments, such as the Cook and the Waiter. The Librarian and the Jurist are composed of books and manuscripts.

The reversible heads represents a special type of the composite heads. It was a fashion of the period to devise reversible image. In rhetoric such a figure is called a palindrome. Everything is still the same, says a true palindrome, whether you take things in one way or another. However, an Arcimboldo palindrome seems to say that everything can take on a different meaning. Arcimboldo's reversible heads allow for a dual interpretation when turned upside-down, delighting the viewer with their metamorphosis. Viewed in one direction, the picture shows a still-life, turned upside-down, the forms alchemically come to life to produce a face.

Three reversible heads by Arcimboldo are known: The Cook, The Vegetable Gardener and The Reversible Head with Basket of Fruit.

Preview Picture Data Info
Vertumnus
c. 1590
Oil on panel, 68 x 56 cm
Skoklosters Slott, Bålsta (Stockholm)


Vertumnus (detail)
1591
Oil on panel
Skoklosters Slott, Bålsta (Stockholm)


Flora
c. 1591
Oil on panel, 73 x 56 cm
Private collection


The Waiter
1574
Oil on canvas, 88 x 67 cm
Private collection


The Librarian
c. 1566
Oil on canvas, 97 x 71 cm
Skoklosters Slott, Bålsta (Stockholm)


The Jurist
1566
Oil on canvas, 64 x 51 cm
Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred


The Jurist (detail)
1566
Oil on canvas
Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred


The Cook
c. 1570
Oil on wood, 53 x 41 cm
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm


The Cook
c. 1570
Oil on wood, 53 x 41 cm
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm


The Vegetable Gardener
1587-90
Oil on wood, 36 x 24 cm
Museo Civico "Ala Ponzone", Cremona


The Vegetable Gardener
1587-90
Oil on wood, 36 x 24 cm
Museo Civico "Ala Ponzone", Cremona


Reversible Head with Basket of Fruit
c. 1590
Oil on wood, 56 x 42 cm
French & Company, New York


Reversible Head with Basket of Fruit
c. 1590
Oil on wood, 56 x 42 cm
French & Company, New York



Summary of works by Arcimboldo
Paintings
Early works in Milan
Portraits for the Holy Roman Emperor
Allegories of the Seasons and the Elements
Composite and reversible heads
Graphics
Nature studies
Costumes and drawings for court festivities
Treatise on silk culture and manufacture
Various drawings



© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.