The Judgement of Paris

(Jean-François De Troy)

Our painting illustrates an oft told tale. The son of Priam, King of Troy, Paris’s mother dreamed before his birth that he would cause the destruction of the city. To remove the threat the infant was given to a shepherd and left to die on Mount Ida. Paris lived, however, and eventually married the nymph Oenone. Eris, goddess of discord, jealous because she alone of all the gods had not been invited to the wedding, threw a golden apple inscribed “to the fairest” amongst the guests.

The claimants were three – Juno, Minerva and Venus – but Jupiter refused their invitation to choose between them. Instead he ordered Mercury to take them to Paris who was to decide the contest. Paris selected Venus after she had promised him the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Helen, however, was already married. Undeterred, Paris sailed to Sparta and succeeded in abducting her, thus bringing about the Trojan War.

This Judgment of Paris is a fine example of De Troy’s mythological paintings of the third decade of the eighteenth century. Another version of this composition (unsigned and formerly owned by Stair Sainty and Colnaghi), with the dog seated upright and the figures more scantily draped, belonged to the celebrated eighteenth-century collector Pierre Crozat, along with a pendant showing Jupiter and Danae. These latter paintings featured in a sale of Crozat’s pictures and sculpture held in mid-June 1751.