1780, Joshua Reynolds, Anne, Viscountess Townshend (Later Marchioness Townshend) -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label: As the Royal Academy of Art's first president (1768-1792), Reynolds dominated English painting in the second half of the eighteenth century. An admirer of the art of antiquity, he often included classical themes, poses, and statuary in his portraits. Here the carved relief at left depicts the Judgment of Paris, a popular mythological narrative. However, Reynolds included only two of the myth's three goddesses; in a witty and flattering conceit, Paris appears to offer the golden apple to the viscountess, implying that she is Venus, the third and fairest.
1780, Joshua Reynolds, Anne, Viscountess Townshend (Later Marchioness Townshend) -- Legion of Honor (San Francisco)
From the museum label: As the Royal Academy of Art's first president (1768-1792), Reynolds dominated English painting in the second half of the eighteenth century. An admirer of the art of antiquity, he often included classical themes, poses, and statuary in his portraits. Here the carved relief at left depicts the Judgment of Paris, a popular mythological narrative. However, Reynolds included only two of the myth's three goddesses; in a witty and flattering conceit, Paris appears to offer the golden apple to the viscountess, implying that she is Venus, the third and fairest.