Arcimboldo

"Arcimboldo, official court painter of the Emperors Ferdinand and later Maximilian, was a typical Renaissance polymath: painter, architect, scientist, engineer and stage designer. His works of art include stunning tapestry designs and stained glass windows, as well as marvellously inventive paintings and drawings. His best-known and most striking works are cleverly composed elaborate still lifes that contian layers of meaning according to how they are viewed. 'The Vegetable Gardener', for example, is actually two paintings, one designed to be seen as a bowl of vegetables; turned upside down, it becomes a gardener. "Flora', one of his most famous paintings, shows the goddess of spring entirely composed of various flowers, while the imaginative paintings 'Spring', 'Summer', Autumn' and 'Winter' show figures made entirely out of seasonally appropriate flowers, fruit, branches and foliage." - back cover.