A big festivity is underway at Mount Olympos. Every God and Goddess has been invited – except Eris, the Goddess of Discord. Suddenly, she  appears and throws a golden apple at the crowd, destined for the most beautiful Goddess among them. Eris disappears and at once Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, Hera, the wife of Zeus, and Athena, Zeus’ daughter, each  claims the apple and the recognition to be the fairest.            Zeus knows better than to get involved, and determines that Paris, the young shepherd and son of Priam, the King of Troy, should decide who is the loveliest of the three.            The scene in which Paris meets with the three Goddesses and makes his choice has been a popular subject matter since Antiquity –  it allows artists to depict three naked women under the pretext that they are goddesses.            The earliest among my selection is by the Italian painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), dating from 1485-88.

Botticelli is interested in showing us Paris’  setting as a shephard  and his flock. We see a cow and several sheep  and one dog resting at his master’s feet. Another of the shepherd’s dogs is seen watching the handing over of the apple, and his figure draws our attention as much as the three goddesses. In the background we see a lake, a distant city on the right, a harbour on the left. Of the three beauties, Aphrodite, dressed most seductively, is grasping the prize offered to her.             Overall, a charming scene with much emphasis on narrative detail.

Lucas Cranach theElder’s canvas dates from 1528 and shows a different approach.    

Most likely catering to the taste of his patrons, the Electors of Saxonia, he shows the three goddesses stark naked, one seen from behind, one in profile and one facing the viewer.            Paris is shown in full armour, as a soldier, not a shepherd, with his horse behind him. Aphrodite’s son, Cupid, can be seen drawing an arrow which he will direct later at Helen of Sparta, to make her fall in love with Paris. Cranach painted 22 versions of this theme.            Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)  was a close friend of Martin Luther, and was the most important painter of the Reformation in Germany. Ottawa’s  National Gallery owns a Cranach painting of Venus, the Roman version of Aphrodite, rendered in a fashion very similar to the three beauties in this image.

Not surprisingly, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640 ), the master of depicting female flesh, also used  this subject matter many times. The three goddesses were a perfect excuse to show off his skill. Here Aphrodite presents herself in a very seductive pose while the other two are seen from behind. The whole scene takes place in a wooded area with all the light concentrated on the three voluptious female bodies. What a difference from those by Cranach – painted a century earlier – who look like wooden dolls by comparison.

From here we jump to France, in the early 19^th century and the neoclassical painter Francois Xavier Fabre ( 1766-1837). The two rejected goddesses are fully dressed and show their indignation with dramatic gestures, while Aphrodite is half-naked, accompanied by her son Cupid. The whole scene looks like a staged drama.

Later in the 19^th century, the French artist  Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) surprises us in having tackled a mythological subject. (Impressionist painters generally deal with every day contemporary life in France).            The naked bodies of the three beauties are truly centre stage, with Aphrodite in the process of receiving the apple, clearly given most of the limelight.

The subject matter seems to have lost its attraction during the 20^th century. I could find only a delightful lithograph by the Art-Deco designer and illustrator George Barbier (1882-1932) .            It shows three Parisians modelling the latest fashion; and from all the preceding images they might seem the farthest removed from the ancient myth. Only the marble column with the statue of perhaps Cupid  makes reference to Antiquity. The gentleman on the right holding forth a golden apple might just as well be judging the current fashion rather than who is the most beautiful of the three.             This double-entendre – is it  the judging of the latest chic Paris fashion, or the ancient myth of a shepherd also carrying the name Paris – brings me to a perfect conclusion of my reflections.