Lot 234: f - ADRIAEN BACKER AMSTERDAM 1635 OR 1636 - 1684

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

VERTUMNUS AND POMONA

measurements note
155.7 by 187.2 cm.; 61 1/4 by 73 3/4 in.

signed with monogram and dated lower centre: AB 1683.

oil on canvas

NOTE

The subject, taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses (14:623-697 and 765-771), tells the story of Vertumnus and Pomona, an Italian god and goddess, protectors of gardens, orchards and ripening fruit. The artist chooses the moment in the story when Vertumnus, eager to woo Pomona, dresses up as an old woman to plead his case. When this fails he reveals himself in his true shape, the youthful, magnificent god, and Pomona is finally persuaded.

Adriaen Backer was both the nephew and one of the many pupils of the history painter Jacob Adriaensz Backer. He travelled to Italy in the 1660s and is recorded in Rome in 1666. Backer is perhaps best known for his large ceiling painting of The Last Judgement in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.