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Lot Essay
The style and treatment of the present picture is closely comparable with Moench's Arcadian Fountain, sold at Christie's, New York, 21 October 1997, lot 338.
The subject, taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, shows the moment at which Vertumnus, having tried to woo Pomona in the guise of an old woman, conquered her by revealing himself in his true shape, the resplendant and youthful god.
Moench was the son of a Swabian painter who worked on the decorations of the Opéra and other theatres in Paris. He studied under Girodet and became a painter of portraits and landscapes, earning him decorative work for the duc d'Orléans. A number of his works commissioned by the duc can still be seen in the Galerie de Diane and the Salles des Gardes at Fontainebleau. In addition, he restored paintings for the chapel of Versailles, and collaborated with his brother, August, on the decorations of the Salle de Clarac at the Louvre; he exhibited regularly at the Salon until 1861.
The subject, taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, shows the moment at which Vertumnus, having tried to woo Pomona in the guise of an old woman, conquered her by revealing himself in his true shape, the resplendant and youthful god.
Moench was the son of a Swabian painter who worked on the decorations of the Opéra and other theatres in Paris. He studied under Girodet and became a painter of portraits and landscapes, earning him decorative work for the duc d'Orléans. A number of his works commissioned by the duc can still be seen in the Galerie de Diane and the Salles des Gardes at Fontainebleau. In addition, he restored paintings for the chapel of Versailles, and collaborated with his brother, August, on the decorations of the Salle de Clarac at the Louvre; he exhibited regularly at the Salon until 1861.