GUISEPPE ARCIMBOLDO’S PAINTINGS AND GASTRONOMY
GUISEPPE ARCIMBOLDO’NUN ESERLERİ VE GASTRONOMİ

Author : -Defne AKDENİZ AY-
Number of pages : 91-105

Abstract

After being appointed as a court painter and portraitist to Maximilian II who became Habsburg Emperor in 1564, Arcimboldo created two series of allegorical paintings personifying Four Seasons and Four Elements, all depicted as profile busts composed flowers, plants, fruits, vegetables, animals, etc. Those two series were intended to be paired with each other. In the paintings, the cycle of reasons refers to an allegorical representation of the ages in human lives. Through a paired arrangements of the four qualities, the elements correspond to the seasons. The analogy between elements, seasons, and qualities dates back to Ancient Egypt and Greece and it was exerted a strong influence over Islamic medical theory known as “Ahlât-ı Erbaa” in Middle Ages suggesting the balance of four humors in body. This study aims to investigate the tracks of same analogy in gastronomy through Arcimboldo’s paintings.

Keywords

Guiseppe Arcimboldo, Gastronomy, Still-Life, Ahlât-ı Erbaa, Four Seasons

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