The Judgement of Paris

Professor Bolten has kindly confirmed the attribution and pointed out the connection to Bloemaert's picture of the same subject and a very comparable composition in a private Collection, dated to circa 1592, M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his Sons, Paintings and Prints, Doornspijk, 1993, no. 17, fig. 40, illustrating the picture before it was badly damaged in a fire in 1954. Another, more finished related drawing for the picture is in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (inv. no. 84/37, as Wtewael), Roethlisberger, op.cit., no. D2, fig. 41. While the basic composition of the present and the Toronto drawings is the same, Bloemaert has varied the number and poses of the figures, while the clouds in the upper left of the Toronto drawing are not included in the present lot. From this Professor Bolten suggests that the present drawing is earlier than the Toronto version, which has more details and corresponds most closely to the picture. Both drawings should thus be dated to circa 1592 or earlier. They are rare examples of the early, mannerist compositions by Bloemaert, close in style to Joachim Wtewael (1556-1638), who like Bloemaert worked in Utrecht, and also treated the subject several times in comparable compositions.
Roethlisberger (op.cit., p. 69) judges Bloemaert's picture to be 'A mannerist composition par excellence, marked in general terms by the impact of Spranger and to some extent Niccolò dell'Abate and Blocklandt.' A smaller preliminary study by Bloemaert is in the Louvre, Paris (F. Lugt, Musée du Louvre, Inventaire générale des dessins des écoles du nord, Ecole Hollandaise, Paris, 1929, no. 97, illustrated. Other comparable drawings are in the Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig, the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest and the Stedelijk Prentenkabinet, Antwerp.