King Solomon Receiving the Queen of Sheba

The Master of the Antwerp Adoration painted this King Solomon Receiving the Queen of Sheba around 1517 for the Art Institute of Chicago. The Old Testament encounter was interpreted as a prefiguration of the Adoration of the Magi and was popular among Antwerp painters for its opportunities to depict exotic costumes and architectural splendor. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

The panel demonstrates the elaborate decorative style of the Antwerp Mannerists with richly detailed architectural settings, sumptuous costumes, and the ornamental profusion that characterized the early-sixteenth-century Antwerp school.