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