Vertumnus European Tapestry

Vertumnus European Tapestry

Vertumnus is a European jacquard wall tapestry. The original artwork is by Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses. Vertumnus is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees. He could change his form at will; using this power, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses, he tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as a gardener and gaining entry to her orchard, then using a narrative warning of the dangers of rejecting a suitor to seduce her. The tale of Vertumnus and Pomona has been called the only purely Latin tale in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Now on display at Calouste Gulbenkian museum, Lisbon, Portugal