Libararian

"The Librarian" belongs to the early works executed soon after Guiseppe Arcimboldos arrival at the Habsburg court in Prague. The painting is part of a series of portraits made by Arcimboldo as a divertissement during the early 1560s depicting members of the Emperors entourage. Part of this series is also "The Lawyer" and "The Chef", now in the National Gallery of Art in Stockholm, two paintings that correspond to "The Librarian" in terms of composition and style. The person on which "The Librarian" is based is most likely Wolfgang Lazius (1514-1565), a scientist and collector employed by Ferdinand I as his official historian and director of the Kunstkammer and the imperial library. The painting was taken from Prague by the Swedish army as war booty in 1648.