Terra (Earth)
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526–1593)
c. 1570
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Giuseppe Arcimboldo entered the service of Emperor Maximilian II as court painter in 1564. He also worked for the Austrian imperial house as a stage designer, architect and engineer, for example designing a large pageant on mythological themes. Today he is known above all for his panel paintings, in which he composed astonishing portraits or still lives out of flowers, fruits or various objects such as books.
In 1566, three years after the “Four Seasons” cycle, Arcimboldo was commissioned by Maximilian to paint the “Four Elements”, consisting of “Earth” (Terra), “Fire”, “Water” and “Air”. The paintings remained part of the imperial collections until well into the nineteenth century. In 1872 Earth was donated by Emperor Franz Joseph I to the Joanneum in Graz as a gift from the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The Joanneum exchanged it in the 1950s for paintings of Styrian origin with a descendant of the previous owners, from whom Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein acquired the work for the Princely Collections in 2015, it having been on display in the Liechtenstein Garden Palace as a permanent loan from 2005.
“Earth” from the cycle of the “Four Elements” is one of Arcimboldo’s typical compositions, here put together from native and exotic mammals: the nose is formed by a hare, the chin by a cheetah, ears and cheeks by an elephant’s head, while a recumbent cow links the shoulder – represented by a lion’s head – and the breast, formed by a ram’s fleece. A number of these animals can be interpreted as allegories on the ruling dynasty, such as the antlers and horns forming the imperial crown. The lion’s head and pelt symbolize the Kingdom of Bohemia, but can also be interpreted as the lion’s skin of Hercules and thus as representing strength. The ram’s head at the breast is a metaphor for the Golden Fleece, the Habsburg dynastic order.
- Material/technique
- oil on panel
- Measurements
- 70 × 49 cm
- Acquisition
- acquired in 2015 by Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein
- Artists/makers/authors
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo
- Inventory number
- GE 2508
- Provenance
- Commissioned by Emperor Maximilian II in 1566; in the imperial collections before 1872; in 1872 as a gift from Emperor Franz Franz I from the depot of the Kunsthistorisches Museum to the Joanneum Collections in Graz; privately owned since the 1950s in exchange for other paintings; on permanent loan to the Princely Collections since 2005; acquired in 2015 by Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein from Vienna
- Place of origin
- Milan
- Iconography
- Earth
Ausst.-Kat. Arcimboldo. Nature into Art, Sylvia Ferino-Pagden, Shinsuke Watanabe (Hg.), The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo 20.06.–24.09., erschienen Tokyo 2017, Abb. S. 13 und S. 79, S. 96–97, Kat.-Nr. II.19
Ausst.-Kat. Arcimboldo, Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (Hg.), Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Roma 20.10.2017–11.2.2018, erschienen Milano 2017, Abb. Titelseite, Abb. S. 46 (Detail), S. 70, Tafel II.16
Sylvia Ferino-Pagden, Arcimboldo: un Proteo alla corte degli Asburgo, in: Ausst.-Kat.Arcimboldo, Sylvia Ferino-Pagden (Hg.), Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Roma 20.10.2017–11.2.2018, erschienen Milano 2017, S. 49–55, S. 48, Abb.1, S. 52, Abb. 15, S. 53, Abb. 17
Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Las metamorfosis de la naturaleza de Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Una nueva visión, in: Carlos Zurita (Hg.), La era de los genios. De Miguel Ángel a Arcimboldo, Madrid 2018, S. 165–194, S. 168, 185–186, Tafel XXXV
Miguel Falomir, Giuseppe Arcimboldo: ciencia, erudición y artificio, in: Ausst.-Kat.Arcimboldo. Las Floras y la Primavera, Miguel Zugaza (Hg.), Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao 8.11.2017–5.2.2018, erschienen Bilbao 2017, S. 9–33, S. 13, S. 14, Abb. 2
Giambattista Fonteo, Al emperador Maximiliano II. Poemas de pinturas de Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1569. Dísticos que bien podrían haberse escrito las estaciones y los elementos, in: Ausst.-Kat.Arcimboldo. Las Floras y la Primavera, Miguel Zugaza (Hg.), Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao 8.11.2017–5.2.2018, erschienen Bilbao 2017, S. 77–80, Abb. S. 77
K. Lacher, Landesmuseum Joanneum - Führer durch das steiermärkische kulturhistorische und Kunstgewerbe-Museum zu Graz, Graz 1906, S. 23, Kat. 195
B. Geiger, I dipinti ghiribizzosi die Giuseppe Arcimboldi, Florenz 1954, S. 46, Abb. Tav. 27
Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, The School of Prague. Painting at the Court of Rudolf II, Chicago–London 1988, S. 166, Abb. 166, Kat. 2.6
Ausst.-Kat. Einzug der Künste in Böhmen. Malerei und Skulptur am Hof Kaiser Rudolfs II. in Prag, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), Liechtenstein Museum, Wien 20.11.2009–12.1.2010, erschienen Wien 2009, S. 126, Abb. S. 127, Kat. 33
Ausst.-Kat. Masterworks from the Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), The National Art Center, Tokyo 3.10.2012–23.12.2012; The Museum of Art, Kochi 5.1.2013–7.3.2013; Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto 19.3.2013–9.6.2013, erschienen Tokyo 2012
Ausst.-Kat. Crown of the Alps. Masterworks from the Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, National Palace Museum, Taipei 17.4.2015–31.8.2015, erschienen Taipei City 2015, S. 90–91, Kat.-Nr. 21
Ausst.-Kat. Rubens and Other Masters. Paintings, Sculptures and Objects of the Prince of Liechtenstein, National Museum of Korea, Seoul 12.12.2015–10.4.2016, erschienen Seoul 2015, S. 223, Kat.-Nr. 27
Ausst.-Kat. Von Rubens bis Makart. Die Fürstlichen Sammlungen Liechtenstein, Klaus Albrecht Schröder (Hg.), Albertina, Wien 16.2.2019–10.6.2019, erschienen Köln 2019, S. 108–111, Kat.-Nr. 20
Ausst.-Kat. From Rubens to Makart. LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Klaus Albrecht Schröder (Hg.), Albertina, Wien 16.2.2019–10.6.2019, erschienen Köln 2019, S. 108–111, Kat.-Nr. 20
Liechtenstein Marketing (Hg.), 300 Years Principality of Liechtenstein, Vaduz 2019, 19
Ausst.-Kat. Liechtenstein. Von der Zukunft der Vergangenheit. Ein Dialog der Sammlungen, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz 19.9.2019–26.1.2020, erschienen Vaduz 2019, Einzelkarte in Sammelbox, o. S.
Ausst.-Kat. Hiperreal. El arte del trampantojo, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Mar Borobia, Guillermo Solana (Hg.), Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid 16.3.–22.5.2022, erschienen Madrid 2022, S. 158 (Detail), S. 159, S. 178–179, Kat.-Nr. 81
Ausst.-Kat. Arcimboldo. Bassano. Bruegel. Die Zeiten der Natur, Francesca Del Torre Scheuch (Hg.), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien 11.03.–29.06.2025, erschienen Stuttgart 2025, Abb. S. 172, S. 184–185, Kat.-Nr. 30.3 (Wencke Deiters)
Sylvia Ferino-Pagden, Gedanken zu Arcimboldos Jahreszeiten, in: Ausst.-Kat.Arcimboldo. Bassano. Bruegel. Die Zeiten der Natur, Francesca Del Torre Scheuch (Hg.), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien 11.03.–29.06.2025, Stuttgart 2025, S. 27–37, S. 33, S. 34, Abb. 5
Take a tour of the painting "Terra" by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Click on the marked points in full-screen mode and zoom in to explore the wealth of detail depicted or start a tour through the painting (start by clicking on "Tours" in the upper left corner after opening full-screen mode).