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The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 17, April 24, 2016, Article 34

THE LIBRARIAN BY GUISEPPE ARCIMBOLDO

The Librarian
Ron Haller-Williams writes:

I think I've found a bust of you on eBay (or maybe it is of some other bibliophile!)

GUISEPPE ARCIMBOLDO
"The Librarian" (Original emerged 1566 - oil on canvas)

The Librarian sculpture About THE FACTORY AND THE ARTIST:

Fantastic talent and eccentric portraits with plenty of humor made Giuseppe Arcimboldo, one of the most bizarre artists of the Renaissance, world famous. His composition portraits in he known contemporaries of flowers, fruits, leaves, fish, and books together mensetzte, are unique in their kind.

Arcimboldo's surprising collages images exude wit and irony and were already on half a millennium extremely popular. Was due to its imaginative representations Arcimboldo one of the models for the surrealists of the 20th Century. So interpreted eg Salvador Dalí several motifs of the Renaissance master in his own works.

To read the complete eBay lot description, see:
GUISEPPE ARCIMBOLDO - "The Librarian" MUSEUMS Replica, Sculpture Figure Size S (www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271531092178)

Thanks. Interesting work - I like it. Here's some information from Wikipedia on the painting upon which it is based. -Editor

Giuseppe Arcimboldo The Librarian The Librarian is an oil on canvas painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo in the collection of Skokloster Castle in Sweden. It is thought to be a portrait of Wolfgang Lazius, a humanist and historian who served Holy Roman Emperors of the House of Habsburg.

Arcimboldo became official portraitist to Emperor Maximilian II in 1562. The Librarian is one of a series of paintings by Arcimboldo of members of Maximilian's entourage. Skokloster Castle dates the painting to 1562, though the painting is more often dated circa 1566.

Arcimboldo created a number of portraits of people by painting an assemblage of objects such as fruits and vegetables, flowers, or in this case, books; the objects typically had some connection to the person's life or depiction. Benno Geiger called it a "triumph of abstract art in the 16th century". In 1957, art historian Sven Alfons was the first to conclude that this was specifically a portrait of Lazius. The work has been interpreted as both a celebration and a satirical mocking of librarians and scholarship. K. C. Elhard suggests that it may be specifically a parody of "materialistic book collectors more interested in acquiring books than in reading them."

Elhard notes that The Librarian has become "a fixture in the visual history of the library profession". However, the original title, if any, is unknown, and its current title first appears (in Swedish as "Bibliotekarien") in an early 20th-century inventory.

To read the complete Wikipedia entry, see:
The Librarian (painting) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Librarian_(painting))



Wayne Homren, Editor

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