The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis

In 1593 the magistrates of Haarlem wanted a large picture for the Prinsenhof, the former friary in town where the stadholder and other important guests were put up. Cornelis van Haarlem gave them a myth about a party that goes wrong. All the gods were invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis except Eris, the goddess of discord. She came anyway and threw a golden apple marked "for the fairest" among the guests. At the top left you can see her making her escape. Far back on the right, the Trojan prince Paris is already judging which goddess deserves the apple, the choice that would lead to the Trojan War. For a town that housed powerful visitors in the middle of the war with Spain, the message to its guests was plain enough. Keep the peace. The canvas is more than four metres wide. In 1804 it was taken to The Hague for the new national gallery and later passed to the Mauritshuis, which has lent it back to Haarlem since 1913.