The shepherd Paris as personification of Artistic Judgement
Anthony van Dyck·1628
Historical Context
The Shepherd Paris as Personification of Artistic Judgment (c. 1628), in the Wallace Collection in London, reimagines the myth of the Judgment of Paris as an allegory of aesthetic discrimination. Paris, the Trojan shepherd-prince who judged which goddess was most beautiful, becomes a figure for the artist or connoisseur who must exercise visual judgment. Van Dyck's allegorical approach to the mythological subject elevates a story of divine vanity into a meditation on beauty and taste — concerns central to his own art. The Wallace Collection, assembled by the Marquesses of Hertford in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, houses this painting alongside one of the finest collections of French and Flemish art in Britain.
Technical Analysis
The composition presents Paris contemplating the three goddesses with thoughtful deliberation. Van Dyck's refined palette and elegant figure types create an atmosphere of intellectual and aesthetic refinement.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the mythological Judgment of Paris reimagined as an allegory of aesthetic discrimination at the Wallace Collection.
- ◆Look at the refined palette and elegant figure types creating intellectual and aesthetic refinement.
- ◆Observe Paris as a figure for the artist or connoisseur who must exercise visual judgment — concerns central to Van Dyck's own art.
