The Judgment of Paris

mythological

This scene from Greek mythology is transported in a highly personal fashion to a German forest with contemporary figures. Paris appears as a Swiss country gentleman who has just presented Venus with the apple as her prize. Juno and Minerva have turned aside following their defeat.

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About the Artist

Niklaus Manuel

1484 – 1530

Swiss painter and poet and statesman; formerly sometimes wrongly called N. M. Deutsch on the basis of his monogram N.M.D.: the "D" is now thought to stand for the surname "Degen". As a member of the Inner Council of Berne, Manuel had an important influence on the debates on religious reform, having already made a name with plays attacking ecclesiastical abuses. As a painter Manuel was obviously affected by the work of Dürer and Baldung Grien; but his richly coloured pictures of biblical and mythological subjects frequently have dramatic effects of lighting and mood of landscape peculiar to him. His paintings include: The Execution of John the Baptist and the Judgement of Paris.

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