Arcimboldo and biodiversity

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Category: Painting

The allegorical works of Giuseppe Arcimboldi, also called Arcimboldo, are perhaps the most representative example in the history of art of the adage "we are what we eat."

Beyond the requirements of the original artistic expression and the effect of amused wonder to produce on the spectator, the attention to the botanical detail seems to document a nutritional knowledge quite advanced for its time.

It must be considered in fact that the properties of fruits, herbs and vegetables in general were the basis not only of nutrition, but also of medicine and pharmacology of the time.

Arcimboldo's works would then be not only a striking example of genre painting, but a real certificate of the most recent acquisitions in the food sector of the time, indicating that the variety of fruit and vegetables was even then recognized as an essential element of health and welfare, as well as traditional symbol of wealth and prosperity.