The Judgement of Paris

Painted on panel in 1591 and now in the Nationalmuseum Stockholm, this Judgement of Paris by Hans von Aachen depicts the Homeric episode in which the Trojan prince Paris must award the golden apple to the most beautiful of three goddesses — Juno, Minerva, and Venus. His choice of Venus, who offered him Helen of Troy, precipitated the Trojan War. The subject was among the most popular in Mannerist painting because it offered a legitimate occasion for depicting three idealized female nudes in competition, overseen by a male arbiter. Von Aachen's 1591 panel, dating from his Italian years, brings the full resources of his Mannerist training to a subject that called for both anatomical grace and mythological erudition. Comparison of three divine bodies and their respective attributes challenged the artist to differentiate three idealized but distinct forms of beauty.

Panel support accommodates the complex four-figure composition (Paris plus three goddesses) with the precise, smooth surface appropriate to idealized nude rendering. Von Aachen differentiates the three goddesses through their attributes — Juno's peacock, Minerva's armor, Venus's apple — and through subtle variations in pose and temperament. Paris's contemplative pose balances the more active goddesses.