Arcimboldo's The Seasons are back on display at the Louvre, imbued with new life after an eight-month restoration process.
From May last year until this January, the four paintings underwent fundamental restoration in the hands of Robert Merlo of the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France. Initially, Merlo was only supposed to lighten the oxidized varnish that obscured the paint underneath. However, it was discovered that the garlands framing the profiles, originally thought to have been painted by Arcimboldo when the works were cut and re-sized, are actually much more recent additions. Chemical analysis revealed that the garlands probably date from the 18th century, and possibly the 19th. Their removal revealed Augustus of Saxony's coat-of-arms on Winter, and several more flowers crowning Spring. For the segments that were cut off, Merlo restored the missing elements based on 17th century copies.
Besides the browned smalt pigment-which was originally blue-on Spring, the paintings remain vibrant and well-preserved. They were also reframed and their angles were adjusted, restoring the original direction of their gaze. This, according to the Louvre gives "the faces a more subtle and ambiguous expression. The dialogue imagined by Arcimboldo between the four seasons is now much more animated and lively."
"We can now appreciate the subtlety of the artist's pictorial technique which modulates color as well as shadow and light to precisely describe the plants and give them relief. It thus creates the illusion of movement and expression."
Giuseppe Arcimboldo's original The Seasons were painted in 1563, 72 and 73 as companion pieces for The Four Elements. Both sets were gifted to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, who then commissioned copies as gifts to Augustus of Saxony and Philip II of Spain. Of the original, only Spring and Winter survive, while only the former remains of the Spanish set. Only Augustus' set, the paintings housed in the Louvre, survives complete.
Arcimboldo's The Seasons returned to the Louvre's Grande Galerie last June 5.
