SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
The Milanese Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo entered Habsburg service in Vienna in 1562. His composite heads turn flowers, fruit, animals or objects into recognisable faces. The Seasons and Elements cycles connect this invention with ideas about correspondences in nature and with the assertion of imperial power.
In Four Seasons in One Head, painted around 1590 and held by the National Gallery of Art, a gnarled tree trunk becomes an elderly face surrounded by flowers and fruit. This oil painting on panel brings ages and seasons together within a single likeness. Restoration of the Louvre’s Seasons, completed in 2024, revealed the delicate modelling of the plants and removed floral garlands added after the artist’s lifetime, restoring the dark backgrounds around the figures.
This profile brings together identity references for Giuseppe Arcimboldo and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Dobiaschofsky · Piguet
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Oil on canvas
In der Art
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2019-05-10
Published result : 2700 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 1500
View the lot at the auction house ↗These references are shown separately because of their attribution or lot composition. Each record states the reason.
Oil on canvas
École de Giuseppe Arcimboldo — Allégorie de l'été
huile sur toile
école de
Catalogue period : 2024-05-21 — 2024-06-05
School of
Published result : 2400 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 3000–5000
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Oil on canvas
École de Giuseppe Arcimboldo — Allégorie de l'automne
huile sur toile
école de
Catalogue period : 2024-05-21 — 2024-06-05
School of
Published result : 3000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 3000–5000
View the lot at the auction house ↗Medium — source: huile sur toile, XVIIe s
Catalogue description — original language
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (c.1527-1593), suiveur de, Personnage, huile sur toile, XVIIe s.
Catalogue period : 2020-09-04 — 2020-09-23
Follower of
Published result : 1000 CHF
Hammer price, excluding fees
Estimate : CHF 1000–1500
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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