Blake Gopnik gives the details on the National Gallery’s acquisition of an Arcimboldo that had been included in the museum’s recent exhibition on the artist. Carol Vogel estimates the price at between $7 and $10 million. Another example of the artist’s work is currently on the market for $5m:

The National Gallery of Art has announced that it has purchased one of the show’s best paintings for its permanent collection, as the only undisputed Arcimboldo work in public hands in the U.S. […] Curators are giving it the awkward title of “Four Seasons in One Head” and dating it to around 1490, when Arcimboldo would have been in his 60s. […]

The painting may well be the one that Arcimboldo made for his friend, scholar Gregorio Comanini, who described it in detail in a book published in 1591. It then passed out of sight until 2007, when it was rediscovered in an unnamed private collection in England.

Arcimboldo’s ‘Four Seasons’ will join National Gallery of Art collection (Washington Post)