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The Queen of Sheba before the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem is a painting in oil on panel by the Dutch Golden Age artist Salomon de Bray (1597-1664), dated 1657. It is presently in the collection of the Frans Hals museum at Haarlem. It represents an episode from the biblical story of the meeting of King Solomon with the Queen of Sheba, who travelled to Jerusalem to verify with her own eyes the famed wisdom of Solomon (1 Kings 10: 1-13).

Architectural setting

On either side of the entrance porch of the temple stood two bronze columns, bearing the names Jachin (He establishes) and Boaz (in Him is power), inscribed in the pedestals in Greek and Hebrew. The painter offers a perspectival view into the Holy, a sacred space where only Levites were allowed to enter. The space is furnished with menorahs and showbread tables, and the High Priest performs a burning sacrifice on the altar.

Sources used by De Bray include the treatise on the Temple of Jerusalem by the Spanish Jesuit, mathematician and architect Juan Bautista Villalpando from 1596-1604, and Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi.^[1]

The Queen of Sheba before the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, by Salomon de Bray (1597-1664)

^ Ottenheym, Koen A. (2016). "De tempel van Salomon de Braij". In Bikker, J.; Hinterding, E.; Korthals Altes, E.; Schavemaker, E (eds.). "Gij zult niet feestbundelen": 34 bijdragen voor Peter Hecht. Zwolle: Waanders. pp. 148–159. ISBN 9789462620902.