Italian Mannerist painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo is famous for his whimsical portraits of\u00a0human faces \u00a0assembled from\u00a0objects such\u00a0vegetables, books, plants, kitchen utensils, \u00a0fruits, sea creatures, animals and tree roots.<\/p>\n
Arcimboldo’s intricate portraits reflect the Renaissance’s fascination with riddles, puzzles and the bizarre. Each of his portraits were composed of objects that were related to the person he was painting.<\/p>\n
This painting is a portrait of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II as Vertumnus, the Roman god of metamorphoses in nature and life. \u00a0The plants depicted are flowers and fruits from all seasons, symbolising that Rudolf’s reign was one of abundance and harmony. As Rudolf II was not a popular ruler, we might guess that Arcimboldo chose to paint a strangely flattering depiction of him because Rudolf was\u00a0a patron of Arcimboldo and a great collector of the arts.<\/p>\n
Assembling these portraits took great imagination and attention to detail –\u00a0how would you recreate this?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Italian Mannerist painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo is famous for his whimsical portraits of\u00a0human faces \u00a0assembled from\u00a0objects such\u00a0vegetables, books, plants, kitchen utensils, \u00a0fruits, sea creatures, animals and tree roots. Arcimboldo’s intricate portraits reflect the Renaissance’s fascination with riddles, puzzles and the bizarre. Each of his portraits were composed of objects that were related to the person he … Continue reading Vertumnus<\/span>