Peleus and Thetis, who threw a golden apple among the guests, inscribed ‘to the fairest’. Venus, Juno, and Minerva all claimed the prize. Jupiter decreed that the shepherd Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, should settle the dispute. When Venus promised Paris the love of the most beautiful woman on earth, he decided in her favour. Unlike other representations of the myth (cf. Van Dyck P85), Boucher’s typically ignores the moral implications of the tale in order to concentrate on portraying three beautiful naked women from different angles. All three pictures are fine examples of Boucher’s mythological canvases of the 1750s, as usual focussing on the female nude.