It depicts the Roman god of the seasons Vertumnus in the guise of an old woman attempting to woo the lady Pomona.

The painting depicts a scene from book XIV of Ovid's Metamorphoses that describes Vertumnus trying to convince Pomona to love using the parable of the elm and the vine.

[11] In 1905, Wilhelm von Bode confirmed Melzi as the artist of this painting as well as of Flora at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

[6] In discussing Morelli's attribution, Marion Wilcox argued in 1919 that Melzi is the only possible author as the only alternative would be Giampietrino.

[4] Remnants of Melzi's signature were uncovered in 1995,[10] which survive as the Greek letters S and H on a rock near the foot of Vertumnus.