The Shepherd Paris (van Dyck) The Shepherd Paris (van Dyck) The Shepherd Paris is a c.1628 painting by the Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck, dating to just after the artist's return from Italy and showing the strong influence of Titian. It shows Paris during the Judgement of Paris, holding the golden apple he has been ordered to give to the most beautiful of three goddesses - unusually the artist focuses on Paris and does not show the goddesses themselves. A painting of Paris recorded as owned by the marquis de Voyer d’Argenson in 1754 is probably to be identified with this work. It is now
Anthony van Dyck in Antwerp, returning the following year, and in 1640–41, as the Civil War loomed, spent several months in Flanders and France. In 1640 he accompanied prince John Casimir of Poland after he was freed from French imprisonment. A letter dated 13 August 1641, from Lady Roxburghe in England to a correspondent in The Hague, reported that van Dyck was recuperating from a long illness. In November van Dyck's condition worsened, and he returned to England from Paris, where he had gone to paint Cardinal Richelieu. He died in London on 9 December 1641. In the 17th century, demand for portraits