Greece to Paris, 530 BCE–1890

Peter Paul Rubens

The Judgement of Paris

probably 1632–35

Oil on panel, probably oak, 57 × 76 1/4 in. The National Gallery, London

Look at the colour: three warm pink bodies stand against cool greens and greys, with strong red held to the cloaks at the edges and the robe of the nude seen from behind.

Look at

• Each nude is a slightly different pink, from cool and pearly at left to golden in the centre.
• The evening sky behind them grades from yellow at the horizon to grey-blue above.
• Silk, velvet, feathers and hair are painted with soft edges that blur into the flesh beside them.
• The line of figures runs across the picture like a frieze, with the landscape opening on the right.

• Paris hands the apple to Venus, in the centre; the owl marks Minerva at left and the peacock Juno at right.

Image: National Gallery, London image, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (faithful reproduction of a public-domain 2D work)