Studio of Maarten van Heemskerck (Heemskerk 1498-1574 Haarlem)

The figures in the present painting take as their model Venus, Cupid and Juno from Raphael's Judgement of Paris, engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi in circa 1510. The figure of Juno has been transformed into that of Mars, though Venus still carries the apple given to her by Paris. A version of the Judgement of Paris by Heemskerk, which was with Richard Feigen in 1978, seems to have also used this print as the original inspiration for Venus, though with some modifications (see R. Grosshans, Maerten van Heemskerck, die Gemälde, Berlin, 1980, pp. 212-3, fig. 115.)