Liana De Girolami Cheney - Arcimboldo

S on of the artist Biagio Arcimboldo and Chiara Parisi, Giuseppe Arcimboldo was born in Milan in 1527. Of noble descent, Arcimboldo s family originated from the south of Germany, with some family members relocating to Lombardy during the Middle Ages. Numerous variations of the spelling of the family name can be found: Acimboldi, Arisnbodle, Arcsimbaldo, Arzimbaldo, or Arczimboldo; the boldo or baldo suffix is a mediaeval Germanic derivative. Likewise, Arcimboldo signed his first name in several different ways: Giuseppe, Josephus, Joseph, or Josepho are some of the examples that can be found.

Red-flanked Duiker and Mountain Coati

Biblioteca Universitaria, Bologna

In his work La noblit di Milano (1619), Paulo Morigi charted the history of Arcimboldo s family and confirmed his nobility, despite very uncertain sources, by tracing his roots back to the time of Charlemagne, when a nobleman named Sigfrid Arcimboldo served in the court of the Emperor. Out of sixteen Arcimboldo children, three were knighted and one amongst them settled in Lombardy. This is how the Italian branch of the family came to be founded. To support his claims, Morigi declared that his narrative came directly from Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a trustworthy gentleman with a respectable lifestyle .

Red Deer

Watercolour

sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

Also in La noblit di Milano , Morigi continued to develop the history of the Arcimboldo family, although limiting this to the Italian branch residing in Milan. He stated that the widower Guido Antonio Arcimboldo, Giuseppe s great-great-grandfather, was elected Archbishop of Milan in 1489, succeeding his deceased brother, Giovanni Arcimboldo. Between 1550 and 1555, Giovanni Angelo Arcimboldo, illegitimate son of Guido Antonio, reigned as Archbishop of Milan. He advised Giuseppe and steered him through the politics of the artists, humanists, and writers of the Milanese Court.

Chamois and Ibex

Watercolour

sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

In Milan, Arcimboldo received training from his father in the arts, and also from artists of the Lombard School, such as Giuseppe Meda (active in Milan from 1551 to 1559) and Bernardino Campi (1522-1591), a distinguished painter from Cremona.

A certain artistic and scientific fascination for Leonardo da Vinci has been perceived in Arcimboldo s art. In fact, Giuseppe s father, Biagio, had the good fortune to be friends with Bernardino Luini, a student of Leonardo da Vinci s, who, after da Vinci s death,