The Judgment of Paris

Printmaking at Fontainebleau flourished briefly during the 1540s and seems to have stopped altogether by 1547. Jean Mignon was one of the four major etchers whose works are most closely associated with the workshop there. Almost all of Mignon's prints reproduce drawings by Luca Penni (1500/4-1557), an Italian painter active at the chateau. Penni's Judgment of Paris derives from Marcantonio's famous engraving after Raphael. Here, jean Mignon's etching shows the shepherd Paris called upon to decide which of three goddesses (Juno, Minerva, or Venus) is the fairest. This mythological beauty contest leads to the Trojan War.