Spring
1573 · Oil on canvas · Musée du Louvre, Paris
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About this work
- Artist
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527–1593)
- Year
- 1573
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 76 × 63.5 cm
- Collection
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Movement
- Renaissance
- Series
- The Four Seasons (1573)
A young woman's head in profile, facing left, is made entirely of spring flowers: rose petals and buds form the skin and lips, a lush bouquet of blossoms the hair with a white lily on top, a ruff of white daisies the collar, and leaves, a lettuce and an iris the shoulders and dress. Arcimboldo had painted his first Seasons for the future Emperor Maximilian II in 1563. This canvas belongs to a second complete set painted in 1573, very probably commissioned by Maximilian as a gift for the Elector Augustus of Saxony in Dresden. A poem by Giovanni Battista Fonteo explained the allegory of the series, the seasons as emblems of an ordered world under Habsburg rule. The series later appears in seventeenth-century inventories, including the ducal Kunstkammer at Gottorf in Schleswig-Holstein. The four canvases were bought for the Musée du Louvre in 1964; Spring and its companions are currently displayed at the Louvre-Lens.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A profile head made of roses, peonies and daisies with a leafy green bodice against deep blue, fresh and witty, for a kitchen, bedroom or garden room at 16×24 in natural wood. A blush, sage or warm white wall; it pairs with The Flowers: Rose.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (1573)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- bedroom, kitchen, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Spring in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Spring painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.





















