This week will mark the first day of Winter, so it seems an appropriate time for these whimsical representations of the Four Seasons. That’s Winter above and in full below, followed by Spring.
They are the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a 16th-century Milanese painter who is best known for works like these: portrait heads made of objects such as fruit and vegetables, or flowers, or fish, or books. Here’s Summer and Autumn.
This set of four is in the Musee des Beaux Arts in Strasbourg, France, and originally hung in the home of a prosperous merchant there.
