Artwork Page for Solomon's Idolatry

Details / Information for Solomon's Idolatry

Solomon's Idolatry

1516–1519

Lucas van Leyden

(Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533)
Culture
Netherlands, 16th century
Medium
woodcut
Credit Line
L. E. Holden Fund 1960.156
Catalogue raisonné
Hollstein 9
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

One can assume that the popularity of the earlier Power of Women series (on view nearby) inspired Lucas to produce another similar group. Also consisting of six subjects but somewhat smaller in size, this set reveals Lucas's increased ability to integrate figures more naturally into a setting. This scene, in which one of his wives persuades Solomon to worship idols, also demonstrates a desire to follow Albrecht Dürer's systematic style of hatching to produce tonal effects (see Dürer's The Large Passion: The Last Supper).
A vertically oriented print in black ink depicts Solomon, a man with light skin tone and a turban, kneeling on steps. Facing our left, he looks toward a woman in heavily folded robes, shaded with fine hash marks. To our left, a statue on a pedestal atop a globe holds a flaming torch. Two winged infants lean against the sphere. Behind her stand two men, while swirling lines suggest clouds and a landscape.

Solomon's Idolatry

1516–1519

Lucas van Leyden

(Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533)
Netherlands, 16th century

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