Choice of Paris
Florence Claxton’s 'The Choice of Paris' is a biting Victorian satire that mocks the art world’s obsession with style over substance, using an Aesop fable about a cock preferring a barley corn to a jewel as its theme. The image splits into two chaotic worlds: on the left, a crowded, pretentious gallery is filled with skeletons, fashion-obsessed critics, and paintings labeled with heavy hitters like Raphael, while the right side spills into a romanticized medieval pasture with knights, monks, and a goat. This visual joke parodies the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s obsession with the Middle Ages versus the fashionable 'modern' art scene, asking viewers to decide which world holds true value.
- Technique
- engraving