Vertumnus and Pomona

Pomona, the classical goddess of fruit, and Vertumnus, the god of transformation, are the main figures in an episode in Ovid’s Metamorphoses which is depicted here. Vertumnus enters Pomona’s grove in order to convince her of his love. Because she had always run away on previous occasions when he came, he has cunningly dressed as an old woman on this occasion. By telling her about the allegory of the grapevine and elm, he is able to convince her of the importance of togetherness, for the grapevine needs something it can climb up and the elm, when considered on its own, is useless. Persuaded, Pomona gives in to love and her innermost longings and they become a couple.

This is the last, largest and most accomplished of Bloemaert’s treatments of this Ovidian subject, in which his earlier Mannerist traits have all but disappeared, to be replaced with a monumental classicism. The painting is signed and dated upper right: A.Bloemaert fc: / 1620.