FLINCK PAINTS POMONA

Vertumnus and Pamona

by Joan K. Yanni

 Govaert Flinck (1615-1650) was one of the most outstanding of Rembrandt’s many pupils, able to capture the master’s technique and adapt it to his own style.  MAG’s Vertumnus and Pomona (83.10) is an example of Flinck’s ability to bring together color, composition, detail and passion in his work.

The shining white blouse and glowing face of a young, rosy- cheeked girl, her chin resting on her left hand, light up the painting. She is Pomona, a wood nymph, and she is listening intently to an old woman who is speaking. The woman’s gesturing hand is also highlighted, though the rest of the picture is shaded except for a half light on the woman’s face and left hand. What are they talking about?

The story of Vertumnus and Pomona comes from Roman mythology and is told in Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Pomona is a wood nymph who did not find pleasure in the wild woodland. Instead, she loved fruits and orchards and spent her days pruning, grafting, and helping her trees to flourish. She shut herself away from men, preferring to be alone in her manicured forest.  Many men sought her, but the most persistent was Vertumnus, the Roman god of orchards, who had the power to change his appearance at will.

Often he was able to approach her by assuming the form of a poor reaper or herdsman or vine pruner, but these disguises did not permit him to get close to her. He finally had a plan: he disguised himself as an old woman, admired her orchards, and when she invited him in for a closer look, told her of a suitor who loved her and would never love anyone else, one who also loved orchards and gardens. He also pointed out that the goddess Venus had shown many times that she hated hard-hearted maidens. Then he dropped his disguise and showed himself as a radiant youth.  Pomona was won over by his eloquence and beauty and thereafter her orchards had two gardeners. The subject of the painting is a popular one among artists of the time, but Flinck’s depiction is unsurpassed. 

Flinck was born in the town of Cleves. Early on, he loved drawing and sketching, but his father saw no future in art and placed his son in an apprenticeship with a silk dealer.     Young Flinck’s opportunity to pursue a career in painting came when Lambert Jacobsz., a Mennonite preacher and occasional artist, convinced the elder Flinck that a career as a painter was an honorable way to make a living.  Jacobsz. took on Flinck as an apprentice in 1629.

Four years later Flinck was a pupil in Rembandt’s studio in Amsterdam, along with Gerard Dou, Jacob Backer and Ferdinand Bol, among others. Flinck worked here for three years, going out on his own in 1636, the date of his first known painting.  For a time his work showed the influence of Rembrandt, though often he failed to capture the spiritual content of his master’s work. Despite this, some of his works were good enough to be attributed to Rembrandt himself. In the 1640s and 1650s Flinck began to incorporate touches of Flemish style in his work, particularly in his portraits. The colors in his history paintings also became typically Flemish.

In 1647 Flinck received a commission which became a milestone in his career. Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, named him painter of the allegory of the Birth of Prince William Hendricks III of Nassau. The commission was carried out with the Baroque flourishes preferred at the time, with theatrical pathos, though artistically unchallenging.

But his work came to the attention of the citizens of Amsterdam, who sought him out to have their portraits painted or to buy one of his history paintings. His portraits particularly attracted patrons and were  in demand that those of Rembrandt. This was probably because of his skill in detail and his ability to capture the best features of his sitter.

His portrait groups also became popular. One of his best--and best known--is the Peace of Münster in the museum of Amsterdam, a canvas with nineteen life-size animated figures, radiant with color and dynamically arranged. Flinck himself must have liked it, for he painted his own image in a doorway on the left of the canvas.

Continued success led to a commission to paint twelve monumental history paintings for the new town hall in Amsterdam, illustrating the revolt of Julius Civilis, a Batavian who led an insurrection against the Romans in 69 AD. He was to be paid 1,000 guilders for each of them, and he sketched four in watercolor in preparation for the commission. Unfortunately Flinck died three months after he was awarded the project, and execution of the paintings was divided among Jan Lievens, Jacob Jordaens and Rembrandt.  For some unknown reason, perhaps because it seemed too dark, the Rembrandt was later removed .

Vertumnus and Pomona has one of the most established provenances of any painting in the Gallery. It can be traced from the 18^th century when it belonged to the Parisian art dealer J. B. Lebrun, husband of the portrait painter Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.  In 1792 Lebrun published an engraving of the picture, which served as a guide for the conservators at Oberlin University, who cleaned the picture at the time MAG acquired it. It showed that the work has been cut down on all sides since 1792, particularly at the left. The cleaning also revealed Pomona’s right hand, which had been painted over.

Source: Grove Dictionary of Art; Donald Rosenthal, “17^th-century Dutch Painting: Vertumnus and Pomona, Joins Gallery” Gallery Notes, April-May 1984; Herwig Guratzsch, Dutch and Flemish Painting, Vilo, Amsterdam, 1981; curatorial files