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ANTHROPOMORPHIC LANDSCAPE oil on panel, unframed 11 by 15 1/4 in. 27.9 by 38.7 cm. The idea behind this anthropomorphic landscape, that is, a landscape which when turned (in this case 90 degrees to the left) becomes a craggy portrait of an old man (see fig. 1), comes out of the Rudolphine tradition of Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-93), continued by the Swiss Matthaus Merian (1593-1650). The joke, revealed only by the patron to the viewer, continued to be popular until well into the 19th century. For two other anthropomorphic landscapes see G. R. Hocke, Die Welt als Labyrinth; Manierismus I, 1957, p. 159, fig. 190 and, more recently, The Arcimboldo Effect; Transformations of the Face from the 16th to the 20th Century, 1987, p. 197. Provenance: Ernest Tappenbeck, art dealer in Paris and New York, active 1940-80, and by descent.
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