Mythological Painting – Vertumnus And Pomona

This is an 18th-century oil painting on canvas, belonging to the French school. The dimensions of the artwork are 92 cm in height by 74 cm in width.   The subject depicted is an episode from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, telling the story of the nymph Pomona and Vertumnus. Pomona, a beautiful woodland nymph, was devoted exclusively to tending trees and orchards, ignoring the many suitors who tried to win her heart. Among them was Vertumnus, a deity who governed the changing seasons and had the power to transform his appearance. After unsuccessfully assuming various disguises to approach Pomona, Vertumnus finally decided to take on the form of an old woman in an attempt to win her over with wisdom and words.   The condition of the painting is very good: the canvas has been relined, and on the back, there is an attribution to the school of Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the renowned French Rococo painter, known for his refined and romantic artwork.