Paris and Venus or Eris
Artist
Giovanni Cariani
(Italian, ca. 1485 - 1547)
Datelate 1510s
CultureItalian
MediumOil on canvas
ClassificationPaintings
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN63
The present work, which has been published as or verbally attributed to Giorgione, Titian, Palma, Pordenone, Paris Bordone, and in some cases their studios, is not included in the literature on Cariani, but can clearly be attributed to him on stylistic grounds, as well as the inclusion of an inscription, a stone sculptue, and various props or accoutrements with symbolic meanings, which are hallmarks of Cariani’s works. Also, the Bergamasque rather than Venetian coiffure and headdress of the female figure help date the work to the late 1510s, when the artist was in Bergamo.
Although in the past called The Lovers, the painting arguably depicts Paris with Venus, the Goddess of Love, or perhaps Eris, the goddess of Discord. Approached by a bearded man wearing armor, a young woman rests her hand upon a golden apple, poised atop a stone sculpture of a lion, while in her other hand she holds a sprig of some kind of flower, while her hand reasons on some indeterminate object, inscribed with the letters PVL.CR. Suida (1949) pointed out that the inscription on the painting abbreviates the Latin sentence PVLCHRIOI DETVR, meaning, The Golden Apple Should be Given to the Most Beautiful One, an allusion to the story of the Judgment of Paris, and to the inscription that was often claimed to be on the apple that Paris was to give his favored goddess. If the female figure is understood to be Venus, then painting would represent the moment at the conclusion of the judgment of Paris, when Paris has awarded the golden apple to the Goddess of Love. Suida suggested that the woman is instead Eris, the Goddess of Discord, who brought the golden apple to the wedding feast to which she was not invited, thus bringing about Judgment and also the Trojan War. Given, however, the entranced glance of the man, and the come hither look of the woman, it is perhaps more likely that she is Venus, who has won the ultimate prize from a besotted Paris, even as his armor alludes to the war that will result from his choice.
On View
Not on viewUnframed support: 33 1/2 H x 34 3/8 W x 13/16 D in. (85.1 x 87.3 x 2 cm)
Bibliography
Waagen 1854, vol. 2, p. 197; Venetian Art (exh. cat. New Gallery, London, 1894–95), no. 75; Catalogue of pictures and other objects of art selected from the collection of Mr. Robert Holford (1808–1892) mainly from Westonbirt in Gloucestershire (exh. cat. Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1921–22), no. 19; Benson 1924, pp. 49–60; Suida 1949, p. 63; Fredericksen and Zeri 1972, p. 636; Tomory 1976, p. 183.
