Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Summer (detail), 1572. Oil paint on canvas; 36 × 27 ¾ in. (91.4 × 70.5 cm). Funds from Helen Dill bequest, 1961.56.
Grotesque Allegories: Arcimboldo's Summer & Autumn
Researchers in the DAM's Provenance department often travel back in time to understand artist histories, art movements, military conflicts, and the geopolitical or social trends that may have influenced not only the subject matter of an object, but any previous ownership before good record keeping existed.
In this discussion, join Associate Provenance Researcher Renée Albiston and explore Italian Renaissance artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo’s bold and whimsical style, why his paintings were known as grotesques, the allegorical themes they were meant to symbolize, and their place within private royal collections at the time. Albiston will share her research on new discoveries of ownership going back to the Napoleonic era and how two of these grotesques came into the Denver Art Museum’s permanent collection.
