Donato Creti (Cremona, 1671 - Bologna, 1749)
Mercury Giving Paris the Golden Apple, 1721 ca.
oil on canvas; inv. P 40
provenance: Bequest of Marcantonio Collina Sbaraglia to the Senate, 1744
This painting is a pendant of no. 19. Through its reference to the
Trojan War is linked to the Stories of Achilles. By order of Jupiter,
Mercury gave the Golden Apple to Paris (a Trojan prince, son of Priam
and Hecuba) who was supposed to present it to “the most
beautiful” among Venus, Minerva and Juno.
Paris chose Venus, who promised him the love of the most beautiful
woman in the world, Helen, the daughter of Zeus. This act led to the
abduction of Helen and to the subsequent war between the Greeks and
Trojans.
The composition is a remarkable example of Creti’s ability to
personalize a well known source: the figure of Paris derived from Guido
Reni’s Samson (now held by the Pinacoteca Nazionale,
Bologna).
Here, Creti emulates the attention to classical beauty, and
the almost fanatic interest in the study of form, that
constituted the very soul of Reni's work. Both paintings were displayed
together in this palace from 1745 until the arrival of
Napoleon’s troops, in 1796.
