Solomon's Idolatry
1514
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 17 × 13 cm (6 3/4 × 5 1/8 in.); Plate: 17.1 × 13.5 cm (6 3/4 × 5 3/8 in.); Sheet: 18.2 × 14.1 cm (7 3/16 × 5 9/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
106574
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
King Solomon, famed for possessing “the wisdom of God,” kneels at the feet of an idol of Moloch, a pagan god represented as a nude man astride an orb, holding an animal skull. One of Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines points to the statue, instructing Solomon to adore Moloch. By adorning the domineering woman with a feathered hat, Lucas van Leyden emphasized her foreignness and dangerously heretical beliefs. Despite Solomon’s wisdom, his female consort, possibly the Queen of Sheba, turns his...
About the Artist
Lucas van Leyden · 1484–1533
Lucas van Leyden (1494–1533) was a Dutch painter and printmaker who stands among the greatest engravers of the Northern Renaissance. Born in Leiden as either Lucas Hugensz or Lucas Jacobsz, he lived and worked primarily in his native city, achieving international renown that rivaled the German master Albrecht Dürer. Lucas van Leyden revolutionized Netherlandish printmaking and was among the first...