(Utrecht circa 1601–1672)
Vertumnus and Pomona,
signed and dated lower right: Henr. Bloemaert fe./Ao 1647,
oil on canvas, 148.5 x 196 cm, framed

Hendrick Bloemaert’s father Abraham Bloemaert (1564–1651) played an important role in promoting the subject of Vertumnus and Pomona. His painting (see M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and His Sons, Doornspijk 1993, vol. II, no. 109) is one of the earliest depictions of the subject and was popularised throughout Northern Europe by an engraving from 1605 by Jan Saenredam. Hendrick Bloemaert depicted Vertumnus and Pomona many times in his own works; a signed and dated canvas by the artist from 1635, which is now located in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, is his earliest recorded depiction of this story.

The composition of the present painting shares strong similarities with a work by the artist from 1638, which was sold at Sotheby’s on 11 July 2002, lot 128. Both the present and the 1638 painting have most in common with his father’s later treatments of the subject, rather than with the Saenredam composition. This can most clearly be seen in the depiction of Pomona’s orchard, which is not shown on such a wide scale as in earlier works, and Vertumnus, who is now placed in the middle distance, whilst Pomona is portrayed as a type of Arcadian shepherdess rather than a Mannerist nymph.