Judgement of Paris

Judgment of Paris is one of two mural studies by John Singer Sargent designed for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston that now reside at The Huntington (the other is Sphinx and Chimaera). For the project, Sargent painted subjects from Greek mythology in order to link the museum--a modern-day American palace of culture built to resemble an ancient Greek or Roman temple--with the birthplace of Western civilization. Classical subjects also gave him the opportunity to engage with masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque art, including Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, which similarly portray the human body in complicated poses and imbued with symbolic meaning.

The Judgment of Paris portrays the Trojan hero Paris awarding an apple to the most beautiful of the goddesses, Aphrodite, while runners-up Hera (on the left) and Athena (on the right) look on. The radical foreshortening of Aphrodite as she leans toward the viewer lends drama to the composition. Sargent chose not to use this subject in the final mural.