The Judgement of Solomon

Frans Floris I's Judgement of Solomon (1547) displays the ambitious Italianate style that Floris introduced to Antwerp painting after his years of study in Rome. The Judgement of Solomon — the biblical king's famous test of true motherhood — was a subject that invited monumental multi-figure composition and intense psychological drama, providing Floris with a vehicle for demonstrating his mastery of the human figure in poses derived from Michelangelo and classical antiquity. Floris was the dominant force in mid-sixteenth-century Antwerp painting, and his synthesis of Italian Renaissance and Flemish pictorial traditions shaped Flemish painting for a generation.

Floris arranges the figures in a frieze-like composition derived from classical relief and Italian Renaissance models. His handling of anatomy reflects his study of Michelangelo, with muscular figures in complex poses demonstrating mastery of the human form. The color is warm and Venetian-influenced, applied with confident, broad brushwork.