The Golden Apple, or the Modern Paris
Original title: The Golden Apple, or the Modern Paris
kurzbeschreibung
Thomas Rowlandson's 1785 etching Der goldene Apfel, oder der moderne Paris moves the classical Judgment of Paris into a scene of his own day. A seated man holds out a golden apple to a woman, while two other women stand nearby. The print was made as an etching on paper.
Description
Your eye goes first to the man seated at the left, holding a golden apple toward a woman standing on the right. She wears an elegant gown and a hat with a plume, her gaze fixed on the fruit. Beside her stand two more women, dressed with similar finery and hats, their looks directed elsewhere. A painted landscape appears behind the group, and the whole scene is carried in even tones of grey. Detailed linework picks out the folds of the dresses and the features of each face.
Context
The print appeared in England in 1785, a time when satirical prints took up social and mythological subjects. Rowlandson was known for his caricatures of contemporary life. Here the Judgment of Paris is relocated to an eighteenth-century middle-class setting. The etching was published on 2 March 1785 and belongs to the artist's body of printed work.
Impact
The symmetrical arrangement and the calm bearing of the figures give the image balance and a certain distance. Setting the mythological subject in a modern setting produces an ironic shift. The delicate linework lends the sheet an elegant, almost courtly air.
Technique
For this etching the lines were scratched into a printing plate bitten with acid. The even greys and fine shading come from the varying density of the strokes. The sheet, printed on paper, measures 25.8 × 35.5 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)