About this work

The painting shows King Solomon sitting on a throne, receiving a visit from the Queen of Sheba. The scene is rich in details, with the queen and her attendants presenting gifts to the king. This style was typical of a group of artists in Antwerp, who often depicted scenes of gift-giving and royal receptions. The painting is an example of work by the Master of the Antwerp Adoration Group.

The story of this work

Overview

This scene and that of King David Receiving the Cistern Water are particularly fine examples of the decorative style practiced in Antwerp by a group of largely anonymous artists now dubbed Antwerp Mannerists. The paintings originally formed the interior of the wings of a folding triptych with the Adoration of the Magi as its center. Both show gifts being presented to a ruler on his throne and would have been understood as Old Testament prefigurations of the submission of the nations to Christ as king, the theme of the lost Adoration panel. They also provided an excuse for the artist to depict…

Provenance

Durand-Ruel, Paris, by 1880/82 [Durand-Ruel stockbook for these years; letter from Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy, Oct. 19, 1999, in curatorial file]; sold to Charles L. Hutchinson (d. 1924), Chicago, May 8, 1890 [shipped to Chicago on July 16, 1890, Art Institute Archive]; by descent to his widow, Frances Kinsley Hutchinson (d. 1936), Chicago; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1936.

Publication history

Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de peintures du moyen âge et de la renaissance (1280–1580), vol. 2 (Paris: A. Burdin, 1907), 13, no. 1 (ill.; line drawing). John La Farge, “Art in America: Two Works Formerly Attributed to Herri met de Bles,” Burlington Magazine 12 (1908): 387–88 (ill. opp. p. 387). Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1936): 18 (ill.), 40. “A Tour of the World of Art in 150 Masterpieces,” Masterpieces 1 (1950): 61 (ill. 1936.126). The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: Art Institute, 1961),…

Read the full account in the museum source.