About Guiseppe Arcimboldo

Guiseppe Arcimboldo was born in Milan, in Italy in 1527. He had an illustrious and varied career which involved him in the creation of designs for stain glass windows and the creation of costumes for the Hapsburg Court. However, he is probably most famous for his series of portraits which are made up of objects such as tree roots, fruit, water, fire, books and other items.

It is this ground-breaking portrait work that was the inspiration for www.oldmasterflash.com.

Some people think that Arcimboldo painted the way that he did because he was mentally ill, but the people of the renaissance were fascinated by meaning and symbolism and Arcimboldo was probably simply catering for popular taste.

After his death, interest in his work diminished, but his paintings were rediscovered in the early 20th century by surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali and he was thrust back into popular consciousness as the result of The "The Arcimboldo Effect" exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice (1987).

You can currently see examples of Arcimboldo's work at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the Louvre in Paris, and the UK's National Gallery displayed a selection of his work as part of the 'Renaissance Faces' exhibition in autumn 2008.

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