Arcimboldo teaches us some useful vocabulary

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was a sixteenth-century Italian painter.  He was born in Milan and worked as a portraitist (artist who paints images of people's faces) for the emperor Ferdinand I in Vienna.  He is most known, however, for a series of unusual paintings of faces made only of objects, like fruit, vegetables, flowers, fish and books.  Let's take a look at some of these famous portraits.  Not only are they fun to look at, but we can also use them to learn new vocabulary.

Image from edupics.com

Before we begin, let's review some vocabulary related to the parts of the face.

Can you fill in the diagram with the following words? (answers at the end of this post)
                                1. Nose
                                2. Eyebrow
                                3. Mouth
                                4. Chin
                                5. Ear
                                6. Eye
                                7. Hair








Now look at this famous portrait by Arcimboldo.  It is a painting of a man's face, made of fruit and vegetables. It is a profile (a view from the side). 

Look at the painting and the detail on the right.  Can you identify what objects are used for each of the body parts? Match the objects with the body parts. (answers at the end)

                       1.    Lips                                                              a.. Wheat
                       2.    Ear                                                               b. Peach
                       3.    Nose                                                            c. Peas
                       4.    Eyebrow                                                       d. Garlic
                       5.    Cheek (part of the face below the eye)              e. Zucchini
                       6.    Chin                                                              f.  Pear
                       7.    Teeth                                                            g. Cherries

Can you name any other fruit and vegetables you see in the painting?

Here is another painting by Arcimboldo.  This painting is considered "reversible" because you can look at it in two different ways. On the left, the painting looks like a basket of fruit.  When we turn the paining over, however, we see a portrait!  The basket becomes a hat.

Can you identify any of the fruit used in this portrait?

There are many other similar paintings by Arcimboldo.  Do you like these paintings?
Do you know any other artists who paint portraits in an unusual way?


Hope you enjoyed this post!


Answers:
1. Parts of the face: from top left corner, moving clockwise (the direction the hands on a clock move):  Eyebrow, hair, eye, nose, chin, mouth, ear
2. Matching: 1-g, 2-d, 3-e, 4-a, 5-b, 6-f, 7-c

 (images from Wikimedia Commons)