Pretty Hot

GLOATS? Greatest Lovers of All Time? Aren’t Helen of Troy and Paris at  least candidates, given the ripple effect of their relationship? In this detail from The Loves of Helen and Paris (1788) by Jacques-Louis David, certainly the artist imagines a very warm day in either Sparta or Troy. Their nearly naked bodies are meant to remind us of idealized classical statues, of course. Intriguing details? Paris wears “the red cap of liberty” adopted by French revolutionaries, based on the “pileus cap” worn by freed Roman slaves. He’s a musician—or poet—or both. Who knew? On his lyre is what looks like a mini-scene of the Judgment of Paris (him), with Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena (spear and helmet, far right). He was charged to choose the fairest. Aphrodite promised him Helen if he chose her, so he did. Anyway, they seem a charming young couple. Just an awful lot, what followed….