Giuseppe ArcimboldoItalian, 1527–1593Four Seasons in One Head
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Four Seasons in One Head” now? Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Washington, D.C., United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Details
- Accession number
- 2010.77.1
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- National Gallery of Art
- Image: National Gallery of Art — Museum open access
In the life of Giuseppe Arcimboldo
The whole life1587 or 1588
Retirement and return to Milan
After about 25 years at the Habsburg court Arcimboldo retired and returned to Milan; sources give 1587, while Morigia says 1588. He kept sending works in his composite style to Prague.
1587–1593
The Milan circle: Morigia, Lomazzo, Luini
Back in Milan Arcimboldo renewed old acquaintances and made new ones. His friends included the Jesuit Paolo Morigia, author of the History of the Antiquities of Milan, the main source on his life; Lomazzo, his future biographer; and Aurelio Luini, a professor at Padua.
1592
Made a Count Palatine by the emperor
In 1592 the emperor gave Arcimboldo the honorary court title of Count Palatine; in the 16th-century Holy Roman Empire only three painters received it: Sodoma, Titian and Arcimboldo. The honour is tied to his portrait of Rudolf II as Vertumnus.
![Ginevra de' Benci [obverse], Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/1478](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/8f29e3c9-a289-4d53-abf0-31a66e9e98fa/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
![Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse], Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/1478](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/ff62e8d0-45c4-498f-ad36-6358de827e04/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
