Creative Commons License
Plaque with the Wedding of Peleus and Thetis
(Renaissance Europe )
The Olympian gods celebrate the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. In the foreground, amorous couples embrace and toast the young couple while flying cupids fill the air. The seated youth on the right with a cluster of grapes is Bacchus, god of wine. Eris, goddess of discord, arrives uninvited at the left. Into the midst of the revelers, she will throw a golden apple inscribed "to the fairest," leading to the Judgment of Paris, and eventually to the Trojan War.
The exquisitely choreographed scene is based on a composition by the Utrecht painter Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651), translated into a circular relief by the silversmith Adam van Vianen.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Count Pepoli, Bologna [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; French & Company, Inc. [Mr. Milton Samuels], New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1954, by purchase.
Exhibitions
| 1963-1965 | The Mannerists. Fort Wayne Art Museum, Indiana, Fort Wayne; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin. |
Geographies
Netherlands, Utrecht (Place of Origin)
Measurements
D: 1/4 × Diam: 7 9/16 in. (0.6 × 19.2 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds provided by the S. & A.P. Fund, 1954
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
54.2399