print
- Museum number
- H,2.24
- Description
-
The Judgement of Paris, sitting at left, with Venus, Juno and Pallas Athena, with winged victory above; at top centre the Sun in his chariot preceeded by Castor and Pollux on horseback; at lower right two river gods and a naiad; at upper left Jupiter, an eagle, Ganymede, Diana and another Goddess
Engraving
- Production date
- 1510-1520
- Dimensions
-
Height: 295 millimetres
-
Width: 438 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- After a lost Raphael drawing of 1511-13 for the grisaille fresco in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican. A study for the Venus exists in Budapest (Museum der Schönen Künste, inv. 1934) and preparatory sketches may be found in the Golovin Collection, New York.
Michael Bury ('The Print in Italy 1550-1620', BM 2001 cat.80) notes that the Judgement of Paris was one of the most admired of Marcantonio's engravings. The composition was derived from a close study of ancient Roman reliefs (see especially Bober and Rubinstein, 1986, p.149, no.119), but resulted in a creation of great originality in which the invention of a variety of figure types and movements was held together by a taut compositional rhythm. Bury also notes that this is a particularly fine impression of Marcantonio's engraving which shows very clearly the way that the engraver, before beginning to engrave, scored the plate by rubbing over it with a fine abrasive and then burnishing the areas of strong light. The dating has varied from 1513/14 to 1517/20 (for the earlier date see Oberhuber and Gnann, 1999, p.94, no.33; for the later date see Shoemaker and Broun).
See H,2.25, of which this is another impression. See also V,6.25.
This print was issued as a black and white facsimile by the British Museum in 'Reproductions of Prints in the British Museum', New [Second] Series Part III (German, Dutch, and Italian Prints), Published by the Trustees in 1890, where it was number XIV and described there as 'Marcantonio Raimondi. The Judgment of Paris.'; (Shelfmark 245*.b.17).
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1837 (before)
- Acquisition notes
- Laid down
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- H,2.24
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 1973,U.9
