Losse fragmenten van een prent van het oordeel van Paris 1580 - 1596

These loose fragments, remnants of a print of The Judgement of Paris, were etched by Zacharias Dolendo around the year 1600. The Judgement of Paris, a pivotal moment from Greek mythology, encapsulates themes of beauty, discord, and destiny. We see faint figures: Paris, the Trojan prince, awarding the golden apple to Aphrodite, goddess of love, while Hera and Athena look on. This scene, immortalized across epochs, resonates with the eternal allure of feminine beauty and the ensuing rivalry. Consider Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," where Venus emerges, embodying ideal beauty, much like Aphrodite here. The act of judgement itself carries deep psychological weight, echoing in countless artistic and cultural forms. Each choice, each decision, imprints itself upon our collective memory. In Dolendo's fragmented vision, we see not just a mythological scene, but a mirror reflecting our own fraught judgements and the enduring power of symbolic narratives. These small remnants remind us of the cyclical nature of history, and the ways in which ancient myths continue to inform our present.