The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 24, 2025

Judgment of Paris

c. 1505

Giovanni Paolo Fonduli

(Italian)
Italy, Padua, early 16th century
bronze
Diameter: 5.4 cm (2 1/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1984.54
Location: Not on view

Description

Fonduli's relief depicts the ancient tale of the judgment of Paris, a mythological beauty contest for three Greek goddesses judged by the Trojan prince Paris. He holds an apple in his hand while Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena stand before him. Aphrodite extends a hand, signifying her attainment of the apple, and Athena holds the flaming head of a beast in the air, suggesting the imminent conflict of the Trojan War. In some versions of the story, only Aphrodite appears naked before Paris, but in Fonduli's work, Hera and Athena are completely nude, while Aphrodite ineffectually holds light drapery to shield her lower body. Fonduli blurs the identity of the three goddesses, showing that there is little difference in their respective beauty.
  • Cyril Humphris, Ltd. (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984.
  • Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (April 1985): 163–207. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 200, no. 12 www.jstor.org
    Winter, Patrick M. de. “Recent Accessions of Italian Renaissance Decorative Arts, Part II.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 4 (April 1986): 142–182. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 145, fig. 143 www.jstor.org
  • Collecting Drawings in England. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1987-January 17, 1988).
    Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).
  • {{cite web|title=Judgment of Paris|url=false|author=Giovanni Paolo Fonduli|year=c. 1505|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1984.54