The Judgment of Paris

This is one of Rubens's last versions of the judgement of Paris, painted probably between 1632 and 1635. He followed the ancient writer Lucian, in whose telling the shepherd Paris could not choose while the goddesses were clothed and asked them to undress. Minerva pulls her robe over her head, her shield with the snake-haired Medusa propped nearby. Juno lifts her cloak aside while her peacock hisses at the sheepdog lying at the shepherd's feet. Venus stands between them with pearls and roses in her hair, and Paris holds out the golden apple, with Mercury leaning on the tree behind him, his cloak still flying. The landscape lies in soft evening sun, and only overhead does the trouble show. Half-hidden in the clouds is the Fury Alecto, whom a jealous Juno would send to destroy the Trojans, setting the Trojan War in motion.