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The Judgment of Paris
Claude Lorrain·1645/1646
Historical Context
Claude Lorrain's Judgment of Paris from 1645-46 sets the most famous episode of classical mythology — Paris choosing the most beautiful goddess — within a landscape of extraordinary radiance. Mercury presents Juno, Minerva, and Venus to the Trojan shepherd prince, but the mythological figures are secondary to the expansive view across a river valley toward distant mountains dissolved in afternoon haze. Claude typically used mythological or biblical narratives as pretexts for landscape painting rather than as primary subjects, a reversal of conventional hierarchy that his patrons understood and embraced. The work was likely made for a Roman or French collector, part of the constant demand from wealthy patrons for Claude's distinctive vision of an Arcadian Mediterranean world.
Technical Analysis
Claude's oil on canvas masterfully balances the figural narrative with expansive landscape, using his signature technique of graduated atmospheric perspective and warm golden tonality to create a timeless pastoral vision.
Provenance
Commissioned by François du Val, marquis de Fontenay-Mareuil [1594-1655], Rome and Paris. Le Danois, Paris, by c. 1740. Angran, vicomte de Fonspertuis, by 1747; (his sale, E.F. Gersaint, Paris, 4 March 1748 and days following, no. 426).[1] purchased by Agard or Devins. Mr. [possibly W. or John] David, London; (his sales ["A Merchant of Respectability"], Christie's, London, 17 July 1819, no. 58, not sold, and 26-27 May 1820, 2nd day, no. 114); Urbino Pizzetta, London.[2] acquired 1912 by the father of Miss V. Price, England; by inheritance to her; (sale, Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1966, no. 9); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); sold 13 February 1969 to NGA. [1] On the painting's early history, see Marcel Röthlisberger, "Claude Lorrain in the National Gallery of Art," _Report and Studies in the History of Art_ 1969, and Marcel Röthlisberger, _Claude Lorraine: The Paintings_, Vol. 1, New Haven, 1961: 254-255, no. LV94. Le Danois is recorded in the second index of the the _Liber Veritatis_, c. 1720. See also the provenance supplied by the Thomas Agnew and Sons invoice of 24 March 1969 (in NGA curatorial files). [2] Information about the 1819 and 1820 sales, and the purchaser in 1820, was provided by Lady Dorothy Lygon of Christie, Manson & Woods, letter of 21 September 1971 to J. Carter Brown (in NGA curatorial files). Pizzetta's collection was sold at Christie's on 15-16 April 1825, but the NGA painting was not listed in the catalogue, which identifies the seller as "Deceased."
