hector's white bones in soft robes of purple

“The painting shows the Judgment of Paris, an event in Greek mythology. The Trojan shepherd Paris was instructed by Hermes to judge which goddess was the fairest, and to give the golden apple to her (which Paris holds in his right hand). To try to win his decision, Aphrodite (and Athena, to some extent) removed her dress and stood before Paris completely naked. Paris chooses Aphrodite the fairest after she promises him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, as his wife. Figures, from left to right: The goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite, then Aphrodite’s son, Eros, and Paris is on the right.”

"…they say that in a banquet of the Gods Discord threw down a golden apple; the Goddesses contended for it, and were sent by Zeus to Paris to be judged. Paris saw Aphrodite to be beautiful and gave her the apple. Here the banquet signifies the hypercosmic powers of the Gods; that is why they are all together. The golden apple is the world, which being formed out of opposites, is naturally said to be ‘thrown by Discord’. The different Gods bestow different gifts upon the world, and are thus said to ‘contend for the apple’. And the soul which lives according to sense - for that is what Paris is - not seeing the other powers in the world but only beauty, declares that the apple belongs to Aphrodite.”
- On the Gods and The World by Sallustius

Eduard Lebiedzki, 1862-1915

The Judgement of Paris, 1906, oil on canvas, 101.5x193 cm

Private Collection

“Judgement of Paris” side A of an Attic Greek black-figure hydria, c. 510 B.C.

The Judgement of Paris, Frontispiece from Padraic Colum’s The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tale of Troy by Willy Pogany (1918)

The Judgement of Paris by John Singer Sargent 

American, 1922-1924

oil on canvas

MFA Boston