Next year, 2027, will be the 500th anniversary the birth of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, one of the strangest and most intriguing artists of all time. He captivated his contemporaries with his depictions of the human face composed of objects such as fruits, flowers, fish and books. After centuries of obscurity, he was rediscovered in the 19th century and then revered by the Surrealists who saw him as a pioneer for their mining of the subconscious. Arcimboldo worked at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, one of the greatest collectors in history who acquired masterpieces by Bruegel, Titian and Durer. He also assembled hundreds of artists, wizards and alchemists at his castle in Prague. This lecture examines Arcimboldo’s unique career in the context of his patron’s grand project of pursuing occult knowledge at the frontier of art and science .