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JUAN DE JUANES

Juan de Juanes was a Spanish painter, the son of the painter vicent Macip (1475- 1545), who had almost certainly studied in Italy and probably in Venice. Juanes painted ideal Counter- Reformation images, based on Leonardo’s Last Supper (engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi) and Rafael’s Madonnas, but also with some influence from Flanders.

His work is technically less precise than that of his father in the delineation of form; he preferred sfumato

effects in modeling, very different from the sharper sculptural outlines of Macip. In colour, Juanes preferred clear, luminous tones with which he achieved a characteristic Mannerist iridescence. His landscapes too, differ from those of his father, becoming yet another decorative element. They often include classical ruins such as the pyramid of Caius Sextus or Egyptian obelisks, all of which are treated with the same delicacy and grace as his human forms.

THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS

JUAN DE JUANES, VALENCIA (1523- 1579)

One of my favourite paintings is “The Judgment of Paris” that representing a passage of Greek mythology. The most important of this picture is in the foreground where on the right hand Paris rest in a rock with the golden apple in

his hand and on the left side the 3 goddesses wait for Paris answer. In the background you can see the river and some trees.

It was the wedding of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and the nymph Tethis, who would be the parents of Achilles. The gods and goddesses were eating together at the Mount Olympus, the mountain from which top the gods govern the world. All of them but Eris, the goddess of discord, who always used to ruin the parties where she went to with her crossness. To take revenge, she entered the party invisible and left a golden apple on the table, the Golden Apple of Discord, addressed to “The Fairest One”.

As expected, a fight started soon between three goddesses: Hera, Zeus’ wife, Athene, the goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. All of them were incredibly beautiful and also powerful, that’s why no one in the Olympus could or wanted to choose one. At last, Zeus decided that a human man called Paris should be the judge of the beauty contest.

When the three stunning goddesses appeared on the clearing where Paris was resting, he thought he was dreaming. But Hera, Athene and Aphrodite explained him their problem and asked him to give the apple to one of them. As they saw that Paris was incapable of deciding, they bribed him. Hera promised him power and glory, Athene offered him wisdom and Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman, Helen. Of course, Paris gave the golden apple to Aphrodite.

After this, he met Helen and soon they fell in love with each other. After a few days, the young couple escaped to Troy.

Menelaus got very angry and asked his brother Agamemnon and the other Greek kings to help him conquer Troy and get his wife back. Agamemnon was pleased to start the war, he wanted the richness of Toy for himself, and the other Greeks had promised allegiance to Menelaus… So, they all sailed to Troy and the battle began. It would last for ten years and end with the Greek victory. When the Trojans thought they had won the battle, Greeks left at the gates of Troy a large wooden horse. The Trojans, thinking it was a gift for his victory put the horse inside the city of Troy and when everyone was slept (asleep) some Greeks jumped out the horse and opened the doors for the rest of the Greeks. Finally Greeks destroyed the city of Troy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• www.lib-art.com

• www.wikipedia.org

• www.artcyclopedia.com

• www.theoi.com

• DAY, MALCOLM. (2007). 100 PERSONAJES DE LA MITOLOGÍA CLÁSICA. Barcelona: Círculo de Lectores.