Private collection, Austria, from which on deposit at the Landesmuseum Joanneaum in Graz from the second half of the 19th century until circa 1950 (an old label with inv. no. 2289 on the reverse).

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on slate. There are old cracks, one very fine crack slants down from the upper centre into Juno's red drapery, and another comes up diagonally towards it from the lower centre behind Cupid's leg. These are fine cracks that may not quite meet in the floating red drapery, and may not in fact have actually broken the slate. One other slanting crack crosses the upper left background, which also may be almost a fracturing or flaking away of an upper slate layer rather than a complete crack. There are various recent retouchings, some of which appear to cover damages such as in the stomach of Venus and in the cheek of Minerva with a few others. Some however are clearly surface retouchings: such as those spread variously across the foreground, presumably reinforcing thinner places or over tiny flakes, and narrowly along a short scratch from the base up to the peacock on the left, with many small retouchings in the figures: widely over the breast of Venus as well as her stomach as mentioned above, quite extensively in the head of Juno, with other smaller patches in her body, also quite widely across the head of Minerva as mentioned above but only narrowly down the edge of her body, and over the legs of the flying putto. Paris has retouching in his hair and his chest, and his blue drapery is fairly fractured and has older retouching, as has Juno's red drapery. The fine cracks are discreetly touched out and there is much highly finished intact modelling for instance in the body of Minerva, with much well preserved detail elsewhere in the figures and in the foreground. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This beautiful unpublished painting on slate is a characteristic work by Alessandro Turchi, nicknamed 'l'Orbetto' due to the fact that he used to accompany his father who was blind. Turchi was born in Verona but he moved to Rome as a young man, remaining there for much of his adult life. He received numerous commissions from churches to paint large altarpieces, many of which still remain in situ in the places for which they were intended (for example, his painting of The Holy Family with God the Father in San Lorenzo in Lucina), but his smooth and careful modelling was particularly apt for hard supports (such as copper or slate) and for paintings on a small scale. Turchi learnt the art of painting on slate from his fellow Veronese artist Felice Brusasorci and he favoured this support for his nocturnal scenes, the most famous examples of which are in the Galleria Borghese, Rome.¹  Indeed the dark background provided by the slate support suited Turchi's caravaggesque use of chiaroscuro whilst the colourful palette and classicising figures, both inspired by Annibale Carracci and Domenichino, give these paintings a softness and elegance unparalleled in his works on a larger scale.²

The profane subject of this charming painting, together with its modest scale and slate support, would seem to indicate that this work was intended for a private patron. The colourful draperies stand out against the dark slate background, as do the firmly modelled flesh tones. The relatively broad handling of paint in these areas contrasts with the delicate precision with which Turchi has depicted certain still life elements; in particular the warrior's helmet and the shield with Medusa's head in the lower right foreground. The putto nearby turns around to look at Paris and he, together with the putto crowning Venus, add gentle movement to the scene. Certain elements in this painting are to be found in other works by Turchi; one such example being the jewelled bridle on Venus which is similar to that worn by Galatea in Turchi's painting of Acis and Galatea in the Antonio Lechi collection, Brescia.³  The rocky landscape setting and putti are most closely echoed, however, in Turchi's painting of The Death of Adonis, in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (inv. 521), also on slate. There the cupid 💮holding a bow and quiver looks on at the scene, and foliage emerges from the rock🐲y foreground in a way similar to here.  The fact that figure types reappear in paintings dating from different moments in Turchi's artistic career, makes a distinct chronology for his oeuvre extremely difficult.

The early history of this painting is unknown but a picture by Turchi of this subject is recorded in the Royal Collection of the House of Savoy in Turin, in an inventory drawn up on 26th September 1644, where a painting of 'll Giudisio di Paride di Allessandro Veronese' is noted as hanging in the 'Gabinetto' of the Castello del Valentino. Since no medium or dimensions are given for the painting an identification with this particular work on slate remains purely hypothetical.  Although apparently on loan to the Landesmuseum Joanneaum in Graz, from an Austrian private collection, from the second half of the 19th century until circa 1950, theꦛ painting is not recorded in ಞany of the museum catalogues covering this period.

1  See, in particular, Turchi's painting of The Dead Christ with Mary Magdalene and four angels in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, or his Saint Peter visiting Saint Agatha in prison in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; both reproduced in colour in D. Scaglietti Kelescian, Alessandro Turchi detto l'Orbetto 1578-1649, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Museo di Castelvecchio, 19 September - 19 December 1999, pp. 100-101, cat. no. 15, and pp. 130-31, cat. no. 29 respectively.
2  Mancini described Turchi's style as being soft but caravaggesque at the same time ("morbido e caravaggesco insieme").
3  See Scaglietti Kelescian, op. cit., p. 35, reproduced fig. 41.