Three goddesses

We can recognise goddesses from Greek mythology by their attributes. The warrior Athena is the goddess of wisdom and just war, a patron of the city of Athens. Hera, the wife of Zeus, travelled across the sky in a chariot drawn by peacocks. She was the patron of marriage and family but constantly suffered from her husband's infidelity. In the middle, Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, love and flowers, holds a golden apple in her hand, which is the key to reading the content of the painting. These goddesses met at the wedding of the sea goddess Thetis and the Thessalian prince Peleus. All the inhabitants of Olympus were invited, except Erides, the goddess of discord. However, she arrived and threw a golden apple between the guests with the inscription 'For the most beautiful one'. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite rushed to grab the fruit. Zeus made that the young Trojan shepherd Paris decide which one should get the apple to save the situation. Hera promised Paris that he would become a great ruler, the richest of men if he chose her. Athena was to make him the wisest of men and always a victorious warrior. On the other hand, Aphrodite offered him the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman on earth; in a word, she promised him someone else's wife because the latter was the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Following his age and priorities, Paris chose Aphrodite, while Hera and Athena hated him and his homeland, which led to the Trojan War.

The painting was created by Simon Vouet (1590-1649), a French painter of the Baroque period. He came from an artistic family and excelled from childhood. When aged just fourteen, he was called to London to paint the Queen's portrait. He spent fifteen years in Italy, where he perfected his art and, on his return to France, became the first painter to King Louis XIII.

Barbara Czajkowska