The Judgment of Paris
1535–55
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Mount: 10 15/16 in. × 7 9/16 in. (27.8 × 19.2 cm) Sheet (trimmed): 7 3/8 × 5 1/4 in. (18.8 × 13.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Accession Number
17.3.1494
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-16th century, artists Jean Mignon and Luca Pen, key figures in the Fontainebleau School, created *The Judgment of Paris*, an exquisite etching capturing the ancient Greek myth where Trojan prince Paris must choose the fairest goddess among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. This small-scale print (sheet trimmed to just 7 3/8 × 5 1/4 inches) brims with Mannerist elegance: graceful femaleudes, swirling drapery and symbolic animals like sw, evoking the divine beauty and rivalry at the heart of the tale, which sparked the Trojan War. Etching, a innovative technique popularized in the Renaiss...