The emperor of the alchemists according to Arcimboldo.
Henry Dougier Workshops| N° d'inventaire | 26227 |
| Format | 13.5 x 19.5 |
| Détails | 140 p., paperback with flaps. |
| Publication | Paris, 2023 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9791031205489 |
Collection: "The novel of a masterpiece".
"As you just wrote in your poem, the portrait I paint of Rodolphe in my Vertumnus is not beautiful. Let's be frank: he is grotesque, I would even say that he is ugly. Isn't that so? – He is both beautiful and ugly, Giuseppe. It is his grotesque side, precisely, that makes him beautiful."
Giuseppe Arcimboldo was well aware of the ambiguity of his work. He knew that his paintings could disturb as much as they fascinate. Why did he paint Rudolf II of Habsburg as a gardener-god? Is this painting a tribute to the Holy Roman Emperor or a way of mocking him? Why are all his portraits heads composed of fruits and vegetables? These are all questions that punctuate this story, which takes us in the footsteps of the Italian painter exiled to the court of Prague, in the service of the whimsical emperor who surrounded himself with a whole circle of soothsayers, magicians, astrologers, and alchemists.
Collection: "The novel of a masterpiece".
"As you just wrote in your poem, the portrait I paint of Rodolphe in my Vertumnus is not beautiful. Let's be frank: he is grotesque, I would even say that he is ugly. Isn't that so? – He is both beautiful and ugly, Giuseppe. It is his grotesque side, precisely, that makes him beautiful."
Giuseppe Arcimboldo was well aware of the ambiguity of his work. He knew that his paintings could disturb as much as they fascinate. Why did he paint Rudolf II of Habsburg as a gardener-god? Is this painting a tribute to the Holy Roman Emperor or a way of mocking him? Why are all his portraits heads composed of fruits and vegetables? These are all questions that punctuate this story, which takes us in the footsteps of the Italian painter exiled to the court of Prague, in the service of the whimsical emperor who surrounded himself with a whole circle of soothsayers, magicians, astrologers, and alchemists.