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Vertumnus seduces Pomona

Attributable to Johann Wilhelm Baur1639/1641

Dionísio Pinheiro And Alice Cardoso Pinheiro Foundation

Dionísio Pinheiro And Alice Cardoso Pinheiro Foundation
Águeda, Portugal

At the centre, next to a tree, two figures have a conversation. The surrounding landscape offers an architectural set and a garden. The female character holds in her hand what seems to be a sickle. The incomplete inscription on the back (“La visita di [...] a Jupiter”) is once again wrong, as it does not identifies the mythological scene portrayed, in which Jupiter is not even present.
It concerns the visit of Vertumnus, the Roman god of seasons, to Pomona, one of the Hamadryades, the most dedicated one to the fruit trees of garden of Latium, which justifies her name (pomum, in Latin, stands for “fruit”). Vertumnus, who could change his form at will, was in love with Pomona and disguised himself as an old woman, which granted him the opportunity to get to her presence and even kiss her.
This scene is described by Ovid in the Metamorphoses (14.654-660).

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  • Title: Vertumnus seduces Pomona
  • Creator: Attributable to Johann Wilhelm Baur
  • Date Created: 1639/1641
  • Location Created: Viena
  • Physical Dimensions: 75x125
  • Provenance: Fundação Dionísio Pinheiro e Alice Cardoso Pinheiro
  • Medium: Oil on copper
  • Original Title: Vertumno seduz Pomona
  • Credit Line: Text: © Fundação Dionísio Pinheiro e Alice Cardoso Pinheiro and Centro de Estudos Clássicos da Universidade de Coimbra / Vieira Duque and Carlos Jesus, Translation: © Fundação Dionísio Pinheiro e Alice Cardoso Pinheiro / Sílvia Dutra Santos, Photo: © Fundação Dionísio Pinheiro e Alice Cardoso Pinheiro / João Carlos Graça
Dionísio Pinheiro And Alice Cardoso Pinheiro Foundation

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