Judgement of Paris

This plaque represents one of sixteen (eight oval and eight octagonal) reliefs based on the Metamorphoses of Ovid, designed around 1550–1560 by Guglielmo della Porta in Rome. Under the master's guidance, they were sculpted from clay by his assistant, Jacob Cobaert. The series was widely known on both sides of the Alps in the late 16th and early 17th centuries due to the theft of the models from Guglielmo's studio after his death and the sale of the works by his son, who was deprived of his inheritance. The octagonal plaquette depicts a complex dynamic composition in which wavy figures intertwine with the surrounding vine-like vegetation. In the foreground on the left is a male figure, Paris, handing an apple to a naked woman, Aphrodite. To the right and directly behind Aphrodite are two other naked female figures, Hera and Athena. At the bottom, near the feet of the female group, is a seated figure of a naked man, possibly Hermes. At the top, among the clouds, another male figure can be discerned, probably Zeus. The work is executed in the Mannerist style.

On the reverse side are inscriptions: "63.G.N.M.L."; "№ С-ІІ-681 Львів ОКГ".

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery