Arcimboldo was an Italian Mannerist painter known for his extraordinary, and sometimes monstrous, human portraits. His unique collage style, which embodies a true surreal wit, is comprised of fruit and vegetables, animals, books, and other objects. Though he was viewed as an eccentric (or, at worst, insane), and though his most famous works were sometimes dismissed as little more than curiosities, Arcimboldo's paintings were in fact complex compositions, rich in both paradox and allegory. It is thought that the subtleties in his paintings might have been lost on the general public but the Habsburg emperors (for whom he worked for more than 25 years) were so pleased with Arcimboldo's work that Rudolph II made him a Count Palatine in 1592, after he had returned to Milan. His paintings have been cited as precursors to Surrealism and were highly prized by Salvador Dalí and other members of the movement.
