The Judgement of Paris
Hendrick van Balen the Elder1608
Brukenthal National Museum
Sibiu, Romania
The characters of this composition are Hero (Zeus’ wife and the goddess of marriage), Athena (the goddess of wisdom and of war), Aphrodite (the goddess of beauty and of erotic love), Eros (Aphrodite’s son), Hermes (the messenger of the gods) and Paris.
The mythological story begins with a banquet of the gods, to which Eris (goddess of discord) was not invited. Her gift, in the form of a golden apple, rolled onto the banquet table, inscribed “To the most beautiful”. The three goddesses all claimed the apple immediately. The judgment on who should get the apple was given to Paris and took place on Mont Ida, in Phrygia. In exchange for the trophy, Athena offered young Paris wisdom and skill in battle, Hero – m unlimited power and Aphrodite – the most beautiful of all mortals (Helen of Troy).
©Dana Roxana Hrib, European Art Gallery Guidebook, Second edition, Sibiu 2011.
- Title: The Judgement of Paris
- Creator Lifespan: 1575 - 1632
- Creator Nationality: Flemish
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Death Place: Antwerp
- Creator Birth Place: Antwerp
- Date: 1608
- artist: HENDRICK VAN BALEN I
- Physical Dimensions: w52.7 x h42.2 cm (without frame)
- Collecting: Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania
- Artist Biography: Van Balen was a Mannerist painter, active mostly in Antwerp, who practiced a style that was under a markedly Italianate influence, whose origin may have been in his possible apprenticeship with an Italian artist. To this hypothetical apprenticeship, we should add the voyage that he undertook in Italy, between the years 1595 and 1600. He became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1592 and from the year 1602 he served as a professor. He was a very popular master; among his most important pupils were Anton van Dyck, Frans Snyders and three of his sons also became painters. Hendrick is mostly known for his large altarpieces and his small-scale mythological subjects, painted on oak-wood or copper. ©Dana Roxana Hrib, European Art Gallery Guidebook, Second edition, Sibiu 2011.
- Provenance: Brukenthal National Museum
- Type: Painting
- Medium: oil on cooper
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