The Judgment of Paris

ca. 1516-18

German, Wittenberg, 1472 - 1553

Cranach treats this famous beauty contest as a deadpan comedy. Unable to rouse the attention of Paris, who is being shaken awake by Mercury, the three nude goddesses draw our gaze instead with their sleek bodies and coy self-confidence. The richly detailed armor, metallic leaves and stylized clouds are characteristic of Cranach's brand of mannerism, which appealed to his patrons of the Saxon court.

Oil on wood

25 x 16 1/2 in. (63.5 x 41.9 cm)

LeRoy M. Backus Collection

52.38

Provenance: Kroger Collection, Hamburg, Germany; Baron von Schenck Collection, Flechtingen Castle near Magdeburg, Germany, by 1910 until after 1932 but before 1936; (Possibly in Tillman[n] Collection, Amsterdam, before 1948); LeRoy M. Backus Collection, New York and Seattle, by 1948 until 1952; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, accessioned January 3, 1952

Photo: Susan Cole

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

“

He was endowed with a sense of chic which would make him the patron saint of all fashion designers.

”

Sir Kenneth Clark, The Nude (1956)

Cranach and Mannerism

Photo: Susan A. Cole

Allegory of Justice, Temperance (?), and Fame (?), ca. 1572, Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), 2006.126

Leda and the Swan and Her Children, ca. 1540, Vincent Sellaer, 2004.31

A Popular Subject

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

The Judgment of Paris, ca. 1512-1514, Lucas Cranach the Elder

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1928 (28.221). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Judgment of Paris, possibly ca. 1528, Lucas Cranach the Elder

Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany. Image compilation © The Yorck Project, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License

The Judgment of Paris, ca. 1530, Lucas Cranach the Elder

The Beauty Myth

In a story originating in Greek mythology and retold by the Roman poet Ovid, Jupiter sent the messenger god Mercury to enlist Paris, the prince of Troy, to judge which of three goddesses was the most beautiful. The rivals bribed Paris with offers of wealth and power (Juno), military strength (Minerva), and the love of the most beautiful woman in the world (Venus). Paris succumbed to Venus' offer and then abducted Helen of Troy, igniting the Trojan War.

Detail, 52.38

Photo: Paul Macapia

Why Are the Goddesses Naked?

In the visual treatment of subjects from classical mythology, it was conventional for gods and goddesses-the inhabitants of an idealized Arcadia-to be shown in the nude. Mythological subject matter gave Renaissance artists the opportunity to portray the human body, and their abilities in this regard increasingly became the measure of an artist's skill.

Detail of goddesses, 52.38

Photo: Paul Macapia

Cranach and the Nude

Female Nude from Behind, 1495, Albrecht Dürer

Louvre, Paris, France, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY, J.G. Berizzi

Why is Paris Asleep?

According to a medieval romance that recounted the Judgment of Paris (Guido da Columna, Historia destructionis Troiae, 1287), Paris became lost in a thicket, tied his horse to a tree and fell into a deep sleep until Mercury awakened him.

Detail of Paris sleeping, 52.38

Photo: Paul Macapia

Media

140

Chiyo Ishikawa, Susan Brotman Deputy Director for Art and Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, Seattle Art Museum, describes The Judgment of Paris

Resources

Exhibition HistoryPossibly exhibited Springfield, Massachusetts, Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, January 1939 (listed on SAM accession card, but Springfield's records show exhibitions of photography, modern German art, and photography in 1939--no record of Old Masters exhibition)

New York, Schaeffer Gallery, The Backus Collection at the Schaeffer Galleries, Nov. 1948. Cat. no. 1, reproduced.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Le Roy M. Backus Memorial Collection, 1952

Osaka, Japan, Expo Museum of Fine Arts, 1970

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Medieval, Renaissance & Baroque Galleries", December 24, 1998 - December 24, 1999

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Baroque Galleries, 2007-2008

Published ReferencesFlechsig, Eduard. "Cranachstudien," Erster Teil. Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann, 1900, p. 271 (http://archive.org/details/cranachstudien01flecuoft)

Ameseder, Rudolf. "Ein Parisurteil Lukas Cranachs d. A. in der Landesgalerie zu Graz," in Repertorium fur Kunstwissenschaft, XXXIII Band. Berlin: Druck und verlag von Georg Reimer, 1910 (reprinted Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1968), pp. 68-70

Friedlaender, Max J. and Rosenberg, J. "Die Gemaelde von Lucas Cranach." Berlin: Deutscher Verein fur Kunstwissenschaft, 1932 (reprinted in English Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978, no. 118, illus.), p. 49, no. 99, pl. 99

Deusch, Werner R. "German Painting of the 16th Century: Durer and His Contemporaries." London: A. Zwemmer, 1936, p. 27, no. 57
[in German: Winkler-Deusch, "Deutsch Malerei des 16. Jahrhunderts"]

Seattle Art Museum. "Le Roy M. Backus Memorial Collection." Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1952, no. 2, illus.

Seattle Art Museum. "Annual Report, 1952." Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1952, p. 11, illus. fig. 19

Miller, Henry in ARGUS, June 20, 1969, p. 6, illus.

Expo Museum of Fine Arts. "The March Toward Freedom", Volume IV. Osaka: Expo Museum of Fine Arts, 1970, pp. 216-217, illus. p. 216

Nickel, Helmut. "The Judgment of Paris by Lucas Cranach the Elder: Nature, Allegory, and Alchemy," in The Metropolitan Museum Journal 16. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982, p. 124, fig. 10

Stewart, Stanley. "Spenser and the Judgement of Paris" in Spenser Studies. AMS Press, 1989-1990

Ishikawa, Chiyo et al. "Selected Works." Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991, p. 88

Ishikawa, Chiyo. "The Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Seattle Art Museum" Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, 1997, fig. 4, p. 18

Kodansha. Weekly World Travel, No. 94, 2000, p. 16