18th-century French school oil on canvas painting, height 92cm x width 74cm. The painting depicts an episode narrated by Ovid in the Metamorphoses: Pomona, a splendid nymph of the woods, ignored the numerous suitors who appeared at her gate to court her. One of these was Vertumnus, who, governing the succession of the seasons, had the power to change his appearance. Vertumnus, after vainly assuming many guises to win Pomona's love, took on the guise of an old woman.
