Shop art print and framed art The Librarian by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

The Librarian is a painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo circa 1570, measuring 97 cm high by 71 cm wide. The original, or a copy, is kept at Skokloster Castle in Håbo, Sweden. The subject could be Wolfgang Lazius, the scholar and collector responsible for conserving the precious manuscripts of Emperor Maximilian, to whom Arcimboldo was court painter: "This painting would have been produced after the first version of The Seasons and the painting of Air, Earth, Fire and Water. Several recent exhibitions (at Palazzo Grassi in 1982, and then in Lugano) have cast doubt on its authenticity: the original is said to have been lost, and this painting is said to be a copy that conveys all the master's inventiveness. The subject is a librarian who, at first glance, is carrying books. In fact, the very silhouette of his bust is made up of a pile of bound books and objects relating to them: His right forearm, placed horizontally in front of him, reveals page markers that form his fingers"; his face, surmounted by an open book with handwritten text, his headdress and pompom bookmarks, the hair on his fringe; tails of marte (for dusting books), the tufts of his beard; readers' magnifying glasses for his eyes". The spine of a large red book outlines his right arm, the left arm being covered by a crimson cape, in fact the bottom of the curtain hanging behind him. We can also make out, in the stacked books, the shape of a large A (for [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the renaissance period. It belongs to the flemish & northern renaissance style.

 

« The Librarian » is kept at Château de Skokloster, Håbo, Sweden.

 

Find the full description of The Librarian by Giuseppe Arcimboldo on Wikipedia.