1595
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Three Goddesses is a 1595 by Jan Pietersz Saenredam, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows three goddesses standing together. They are from a famous story where each goddess wants a golden apple. The story is about beauty and who gets to decide what's beautiful. The goddesses are trying to convince a mortal to choose them. The artist was likely inspired by the popularity of this story in the Netherlands. The story was often told and retold in art and literature during this time. It's interesting to see how the artist chose to depict the goddesses. You can learn more about this style by looking at the work of artist Jan Saenredam.
Goltzius popularized a style of engraving with mesmerizing patterns of curving, tapering, and crisscrossing lines; it was especially appreciated in the late 1500s. Designed for his pupil Saenredam to engrave, these prints depict the three goddesses from the tale of The Judgment of Paris, in which each claimed the golden apple awarded to the most beautiful. Jupiter deferred judgment to Paris, a mortal esteemed for his fair-mindedness. Juno and Athena tried to bribe Paris with an empire and skill in war, but Venus made him an offer he could not resist: Helen, the world’s most beautiful woman.…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jan Pieterszoon (abbr. Pietersz.) Saenredam (c. 1565 – 6 April 1607) was a Dutch Northern Mannerist painter, printmaker in engraving, and cartographer, and father of the painter of church interiors, Pieter Jansz…
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