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 afterJupiter has instructed Mercury to take the apple to Paris who willmake the final judgement. The preparatory sketch (Croft Murray,op.cit.) is similar to the ceiling as executed; only the gestures ofEris and Mercury are reversed, and an additional female figure isintroduced 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 incidentoccurs, and below left: Bacchus and Ariadne, Vulcan, Ceres and twoothers yet to be identified. Chéron's Sale Catalogue includesas lot 3 on 26 February 1726 'the Judgement of Paris, a Sketch for aceiling at Boughton' which may relate to this ceiling.

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