print
- Museum number
- 1875,0710.598
- Description
-
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; Solomon seated on a high throne; inscriptions on curtain behind, between pillars and pilasters and on the risers of the fourth and fifth steps of the throne; queen standing with ten handmaidens in the foreground; seven kneeling slaves offering gifts at left, after Holbein, 1642
Etching
- Production date
- 1642
- Dimensions
-
Height: 254 millimetres
-
Width: 188 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Hollar's etching is based on a miniature by Holbein now in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. It was an unusual departure for an artist whose only other work in miniature was portraiture. The execution is exquisite, with silverpoint underdrawing, watercolour washes and gold heightening. The etching after the miniature is equally delicate. Hollar has employed a variety of techniques from cross-hatching and parallel lines to stippling in order to model forms and textures. In addition, the plate has been bitten to different depths allowing subtleties of line and tone. Hollar took great care in his printmaking, and his comments on the production of this print have been recorded in letter written on the verso of an unfinished proof in the British Museum (see 1870,0625.39). This etching is one of a number after works of art in the collection of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646), in whose service Hollar was employed and the print would have been a fine advertisement of his refined taste. The figure of King Solomon clearly resembles King Henry VIII (1491-1547), in whose court Holbein was employed, and the work may have been intended as a gift. It is believed to be the first occasion that Solomon was given a contemporary likeness. In contrast to earlier depictions, particularly that by Ghiberti, Sheba here is given a cold reception by Solomon who makes the merest gesture of welcome. The depiction communicates an image of kingship which can not be questioned. The quotation (lacking in the miniature) from the Apocryphal Book of the Wisdom of Solomon (6: 24) reinforces this iconography: "But the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world; and a wise king is the upholding of the people".
Lit: A. Griffiths, 'The Print in Stuart Britain', BM 1998, cat. 51, pp. 94-95; 'Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality' exhibition catalogue, Santa Ana, Bowers museum, 2004-5, no. ##
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2002 Jun-Oct, London, BM, Queen of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen
2004-2005 17 Oct-13 Mar, California, Bowers Museum, 'Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality'
.
- Acquisition date
- 1875
- Acquisition notes
- 1875,0710.598 to 780 (167 prints by Hollar and similar artists) cost as a group £35 within the total of £112 2s for the collection bought from Louis Bihn.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1875,0710.598