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Find the three rivals for the apple: Minerva in her helmet at left, Venus seated nude in front and Juno in her veil at the center.
Rubens made this oil sketch for a painting in the hunting lodge of King Philip IV of Spain, illustrating a story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. At the wedding feast Eris, goddess of discord, has thrown in a golden apple to stir up jealousy among the goddesses. Rubens gave the gods solid bodies and very human faces, fitting for a story about pride and vanity.
Oil on panel · 27 × 42.6 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Baroque
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Details and source
- Museum title
- The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis
- Artist
- Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
- Date
- 1636
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 27 × 42.6 cm (10 5/8 × 16 3/4 in.); Framed: 42.2 × 57.8 × 6.4 cm (16 5/8 × 22 3/4 × 2 1/2 in.)
- Credit line
- Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.