Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (also spelled Arcimboldi; 1527 - July 11, 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books - that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognisable likeness of the portrait subject.

Arcimboldo was born in Milan in 1527, the son of Biagio, a painter who did work for the office of the Fabbrica in the Duomo. Arcimboldo was commissioned to do stained glass window designs beginning in 1549, including the Stories of St. Catherine of Alexandria vitrage at the Duomo. In 1556 he worked with Giuseppe Meda on frescoes for the Cathedral of Monza. In 1558, he drew the cartoon for a large tapestry of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, which still hangs in the Como Cathedral today.

https://www.giuseppe-arcimboldo.org/

Vertumnus, c. 1590–91. Skokloster Castle, Sweden.

Vertumnus is an oil painting produced by Giuseppe Arcimboldo in 1591 that consists of multiple fruits, vegetables and flowers that come together to create a portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Although Arcimboldo's colleagues commented that Vertumnus was scherzo, or humorous, there were intentional political meanings behind the piece, particularly regarding the choice of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Arcimboldo's choice to include these items was also an intentional reference to the Roman god, Vertumnus.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertumnus_(painting ) 

The Four Seasons

Summer, 1563, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Autumn, 1573, Louvre Museum, Paris

Winter, 1563, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Fruit Basket, 16th Century. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Portrait with Vegetables (The Greengrocer). Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Project 1: Food  Face Collage

Concepts In this project

cutting

pareidolia

orientation

art appreciation

proportion


Favorite food paintings and the Big face!

students paint their favorite food and cut them out to create a giant face with as a class

Large scale food used to make collaborative big collage face

Favorite Food Thumbnails

Why This Lesson

Students will explore collage techniques. We will focus on cutting and pasting skills as well as using the techniques for collage to tell a story or convey an idea. Students will also see how their preferences and desires can be conveyed in art.

For our giant collage students will learn about using shape and color to paint a depiction of their favorite food and use those food paintings to create a large scale collage portrait of a person.