Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Vertemnus, 1591

Vertemnus is the god of harvests. The first time I saw this painting in a magazine, I thought it was done in the 60's by some classmate of Salvador Dali. I thought it had the same wit and irreverence as any of Dali's paintings. It turns out that this painting was done in 1591. Considering the type of representative paintings done in those days, this one mustve caused quite a stir. A little internet digging tells me that this is actually a portrait of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II. I wonder how the Emperor felt being depicted as a produce stall.