Apples in Western Art
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
Apple is a fruit that gets painted often. When did Westerners get so obsessed with this apple? It all started in Ancient Greece, with the apple of discord.
The goddess of discord was not invited to a party. So, she threw one of her apples into the banquet. The golden apple had a sign.
It was to belong to the most beautiful Goddess. Hera, Athena and Venus got in a fight over who was the pretty one.
They were famous for being vindictive Goddesses. So, none of the Gods wanted to have an opinion. So, they gave the Apple to Prince Paris for him to decided.
To hedge their bets, the Goddesses made him a promise. Hera offered him Kingdom. Athena a powerful army. Venus offered a hot woman.
Paris chose the maiden. She happened to be the wife of their allies. His poor judgement led to the Trojan War. During the medieval times, the apple was just a fruit.
It became the forbidden fruit when the Greek stories were rediscovered. Others speculate that it had to do with a mistranslation of the Bible from Latin to French.
As the forbidden fruit, apples began to get painted often. During the baroque period, apples made appearances in every still life.
They lost popularity during the rococo period. They became popular again during the impressionist period.
These days the apples get painted on a regular basis. There is a video of this topic coming out in my Artsy Sister Youtube channel. Please give a like and subscribe.
