Description

Walter Crane (British, 1845-1915)

FOOTNOTES

• Provenance
  Sale, Sotheby’s London, 19 February 1936, lot 33
  James Nuire
  Private collection, UKWalter Crane’s work both as an illustrator and as an artist spanned a period in British art when the debate surrounding art’s role in society, or ‘art for art’s sake’ informed so much of what was produced. He is at the centre of many movements and trends that dominated the British art scene from 1860 to 1900, such as the Arts and Crafts movement, Aestheticism and the breakaway of the Grosvenor and New Galleries, the rise of illustrated children’s literature, and the well-intentioned strain of socialism that William Morris propounded throughout his career. He was a key figure in all these themes and stayed true to them till his death in 1915.Crane’s early easel paintings were inspired by literature or mythology and are Pre-Raphaelitesque in their attention to detail. By the time the present lot was painted his painting style had become slightly broader although his preference for allegory and mythological subjects had not waned. The Judgment of Paris shows the three goddesses Hera, Aphrodite and Athena lined up before Paris who holds the golden apple as the prize for the fairest.