These cookies collect information about the use of the website to improve the services provided and to evaluate the performance of the website. Being mythological they  offered the opportunity to show scenes of voluptuousness, and nudity which were at home  in the private apartments of the elite for personal pleasure, but when seen by outsiders could equally be seen  and passed off as moralising allegories. In the first section we read of Pomona’s love for her trees and how she cared for them. BUT there is one who is different: Vertumnus. No other hamadryad, of the wood nymphs of Latium, tended the gardens more skilfully or was more devoted to the orchards’ care, hence her name. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. He was ready to force her: but no force was needed, and the nymph captivated by the form of the god, felt a mutual passion. Endowed with unparalleled beauty, she captures the attention of various gods, who try to seduce her. And then he is young, is blessed with natural charm, can take on a fitting appearance, and whatever is ordered, though you ask all, he will do. Tapestry 'Vertumnus and Pomona (detail). Once admitted to the orchard  s/he told Pomona how beautiful she was and even offered some kisses as s/he suggested that even trees were better ‘mated’…, Vertumnus and Pomona, Adriaen van de Velde, 1670Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, detail from Vertumnus and Pomona by Boucher, 1749 Columbus Museum of Art. But her orchard’s lush vegetation, swelling fruit and sweet scented flowers are the perfect setting for the sometimes less-than-innocent escapades of the gods and demi-gods, and many of them, notably the satyrs pursued her. He entered the well-tended garden, and admiring the fruit, said: ‘You are so much more lovely’, and gave her a few congratulatory kisses, as no true old woman would have done. In the Gulbenkian Collection’s tapestry, which was previously part of the Austrian Imperial collections, the gods appear facing one another, preparing for the fruit harvest: Vertumnus carries a ladder and Pomona a tool that looks like a pruning knife. These cookies are third-party cookies that allow to connect to social media and share multimedia content from our website on those networks. February is dedicated to love stories. Once, he even covered his head with a coloured scarf, and leaning on a staff, with a wig of grey hair, imitated an old woman. ( Log Out /  A lovely story with a happy ending. The section that tells the story of Vertumnus and his love for Pomona is quite short and so I’ve included it in full, section by section, in italics, so you can skip over it if you want. In Garden Culture none could so excell, Or form the pliant Souls of Plants so well; Or to the Fruit more gen'rous Flavours lend, Or teach the Trees with nobler Loads to bend. And what do you know of Vertumnus? But if you are wise, if you want to marry well, and listen to this old woman, that loves you more than you think, more than them all, reject their vulgar offers, and choose Vertumnus to share your bed! Learn how your comment data is processed. It’s a sign of how seriously classical imagery and culture underlines western civilization that many of the characters  associated with gardens and gardening are derived directly from it. She would not allow them to suffer from being parched, watering, in trickling streams, the twining tendrils of thirsty root. The illustrations are beautiful. Brussels, mid-sixteenth century. Change ). The earliest known Dutch painting of this subject was made by Bloemaert around 1590. and who is the old lady in the picture below? Vertumnus and Pomona. Pomona (From Flora and Pomona), Figure design by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and a background design by John Henry Dearle Merton Abbey Tapestry Works, 1906,      Chicago Institute of Art. But Vertumnus surpassed them all, even, in his love, though he was no more fortunate than them. A Hama-Dryad flourish'd in these Days, Her Name Pomona ; from her Woodland Race. He was truly enamoured so repeatedly changed his appearance and tried again and again to win her attention and affection. Founder's Collection, Tapestry 'Vertumnus and Pomona' (detail). She was actually a nymph,  famously beautiful and, because of that,  was pursued by many of the gods. This type of cookies includes cookies that allow you to be remembered as you browse the website during a single session. And of course in the process , when you’re not staring at priapic satyrs or bare-breasted maidens being kissed by old ladies then the  images that illustrate the story also reveal a lot about gardens and garden design! That you may fear them more (since my long life has given me knowledge of many tales) I will tell you a story, famous through all of Cyprus, by which you might easily be swayed and softened.’, Vertumnus and Pomona in a Garden, with Juno’s Peacock, Dirck van den Bergen, Ham House, National Trust, Anaxarete Seeing the Dead Iphis, Antonio Tempesta, from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” 1606, And then the old lady tells Pomona the story of Iphis, a poor young man who falls in love for Anarexete, a noble maiden, but sadly one with a heart of stone, who mocks and scorns him. He had one great advantage over most other gods:  he could change his shape and appearance whenever he wished. So why am I writing about them? She carried a curved pruning knife, not a javelin, with which she cut back the luxuriant growth, and lopped the branches spreading out here and there, now splitting the bark and inserting a graft, providing sap from a different stock for the nursling. This led her to live a secluded chaste life in a walled orchard, ignoring all men. The Story of Vertumnus, and Pomona. She loved the fields and the branches loaded with ripe apples, not the woods and rivers. Despite them both being rather obscure deities the story of Vertumnus and Pomona appealed to European sculptors, painters and tapestry designers of from the Renaissance onwards. The love story between Vertumnus and Pomona is probably one of the most famous in the Gulbenkian Collection, originating from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Still fearing boorish aggression, she enclosed herself in an orchard, and denied an entrance, and shunned men. Vertumnus and Pomona, Hendrick Goltzius, The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge. Vertumnus and Pomona, Jan Tengnagel, 1617 oil on copper, h 21.4cm × w 29.4cm More details. Post was not sent - check your email addresses!

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