Discord throwing the apple amongst the Gods

Ceiling above the Great Staircase
Louis Chéron c. 1695
oil on plaster

The subject, from Lucian's Dialogues, 20, shows the moment after Jupiter has instructed Mercury to take the apple to Paris who will make the final judgement. The preparatory sketch (Croft Murray, op.cit.) is similar to the ceiling as executed; only the gestures of Eris and Mercury are reversed, and an additional female figure is introduced top left. The figures read from left to right, at top: Proserpine, Eris, Mars, middle row: Minerva, Venus, Juno, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Peleus and Thetis, at whose marriage the incident occurs, and below left: Bacchus and Ariadne, Vulcan, Ceres and two others yet to be identified. Chéron's Sale Catalogue includes as lot 3 on 26 February 1726 'the Judgement of Paris, a Sketch for a ceiling at Boughton' which may relate to this ceiling.

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