The Chosen Five

The Chosen Five is an 1885 history painting by the British artist Edwin Long. It depicts a scene from Ancient Greece. The celebrated artist Zeuxis, working on a painting of Helen of Troy, has selected five beautiful young woman from Crotone so that he can use a composite of them to create the ideal depiction. The five models now pose in his studio. ^[1]. It was produced with a companion piece The Search for Beauty depicting Zeuxis searching for the most beautiful woman to feature in the work.^[2]

The Chosen Five
Artist	Edwin Long
Year	1885
Type	Oil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions	149 cm × 240 cm (59 in × 94 in)
Location	Russel-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth

The two paintings were exhibited at the French Gallery in London's Bond Street in 1885. ^[3] The Chosen Five was acquired by the art collector Merton Russell-Cotes.^[4] It was donated to the Russel-Cotes Art Gallery in Bournemouth in 1921. ^[5]

The subject had previously been depicted by the French Neoclassical painter François-André Vincent in his 1789 work Zeuxis Choosing the Most Beautiful Women from Croton as His Models.^[6]