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| Peter Paul Rubens St Gregory the Great 1620 oil on panel (sketch) Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Temptation of Christ 1620 oil on panel (sketch) Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| Pieter Brueghel the Younger Two Peasants binding Faggots ca. 1620 oil on panel Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham |
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| Domenichino Sibyl ca. 1620-25 oil on canvas Wallace Collection, London |
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| Paul van Somer Ludovick Stuart, 1st Duke of Richmond & 2nd Duke of Lennox ca. 1620 oil on canvas National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Justus Sustermans Senators of Florence swearing Allegiance to Ferdinando II de' Medici ca. 1621-26 oil on canvas Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Domenico Fetti Vertumnus and Pomona ca. 1621-23 oil on copper Courtauld Gallery, London |
One spirit was more in love with Pomona than all of these others,
but didn't succeed any better. Vertumnus, the Turner, was always
appearing in different disguises. He'd come in the garb of a rugged
reaper, with ears of corn in a trug, and was very convincing!
Or else, if you saw the fresh-cut hay in a band on his forehead,
you'd think he'd been tossing the new-mown grass like a genuine haymaker.
Often h'e carry a goad in his hard rough hand; you could honestly
call him a ploughman who'd just unyoked his exhausted oxen.
Give him a hook and he might be a pruner or stripper of vines;
a ladder to carry, and off he'd be going to harvest the apples.
All these forms he adopted again and again to get close
to Pomona and so enjoy the sight of her beautiful person.
One day he even put on a grey wig with a bright-coloured headscarf,
crouched down over a stick and pretended to be an old woman.
He entered the orchard, admired the apples and said to Pomona,
'They make you all the more tempting!'; then followed this compliment up
by kissing her once or twice on the lips as a real old woman
would never have done.
* * *
Thus the god disguised as a crone appealed to Pomona,
but all in vain. He returned to his young man's guise and discarded
the old woman's trappings. The vision that now confronted the maid
was like the brilliant face of the Sun, when he clears the obstructing
clouds and shines once again with his glory fully revealed.
Vertumnus was ready to force his will, but force wasn't needed;
the nymph was entranced by his radiant form and responded with passion.
– from the Metamorphoses of Ovid, translated by David Raeburn
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| Jacob Jordaens Holy Family with St John the Baptist ca. 1620-25 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Jacob Jordaens St Christopher carrying the Christ Child ca. 1625-30 oil on canvas Ulster Museum, Belfast |
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| Anthony van Dyck Stoning of Stephen ca. 1623-25 oil on canvas National Trust, Tatton Park, Cheshire |
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| Anthony van Dyck St Rosalie crowned with Roses by Two Angels 1624 oil on canvas Wellington Collection, Apsley House, London |
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| Hendrick Bloemaert St John the Baptist 1624 oil on canvas Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow |
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| Giovanni Lanfranco Christ and the Woman of Samaria ca. 1625-30 oil on canvas Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| attributed to Michiel van Mierevelt James Stanley, Lord Strange, later 7th Earl of Derby 1626 oil on panel National Trust, Blickling Hall, Norfolk |
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| Frans Hals Young Man holding a Skull ca. 1626-28 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |