Join esteemed historian Simon Schama as he shares the brilliant stories behind key masterworks from Caravaggio to Picasso.
Simon Schama's Power of Art
Series
Arcimboldo: Portrait of an Audacious Man
Play
Centuries before the Surrealists, Giuseppe Arcimboldo shocked Renaissance courts with ingenious portraits crafted from fruit, fish, and flowers.
This visually rich documentary explores the 16th-century master's subversive vision, tracing his journey from the Habsburg court to obscurity and his ultimate revival by modern icons like Dalí and Magritte. Works such as "The Librarian" and "Vertumnus" reveal meticulous craft, sharp wit, and surreal ambiguity. Contemporary pieces echo his influence on modern and conceptual practice.
Arcimboldo emerges not as a curiosity of the past, but as a proto-modernist who blurred identity with nature and masterfully turned perception into illusion.
Cast & Crew
(Director), Lexie Kendricks (Narrator)