Arcimboldo, Giuseppe (1526-1593)
Ortaggi in una ciotola o L’ortolano (Basket of Fruit or The Vegetable Gardener)
c.1590
Oil on panel, 36 x 24 cm
Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, Cremona
The Vegetable Gardener upsidedown.
“Reversible head” which allows for a dual interpretation when turned upside-down.
The Milanese painter, well-known artist of the court of Emperor Rudolph II of Habsburg, owes his celebrity above all to his surprising “composed heads” and “reversible images”, of which this panel is one of the most important testimonies. The Greengrocer depicts a cup full of various types of vegetables which, when rotated 180°, transforms into a bizarre and plump face with a commoner tone. The work of evident Nordic character shows close links with the world of alchemy and Phytognomics of Giovan Battista Della Porta, according to which plants have the property of treating and healing disorders of the organs and parts of the body that have the same shapes as them or silhouettes. (Museo Ala Ponzone)