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Eeckhout, Gerbrand van den
Solomon’s Idolatry
Around 1665

The Old Testament patriarch King Solomon was considered the wisest man in history. Yet even he contravenes God’s word (1 Kings 11:2) and is swayed through his love for his many foreign wives and concubines to practice paganism. In Gerbrand van den Eeckhout’s interpretation, two women worship quietly in the background, relegated to a secondary position while serving as the visual explanation for the monarch’s abandonment of God. Unlike many stories comprising the Weibermacht theme, this subject uses love to delve into the social realm of apostasy.

 
Eeckhout, Gerbrand van den
Amsterdam, Netherlands 1621–Amsterdam, Netherlands 1674
Solomon’s Idolatry
Around 1665
Oil on canvas
54.6 x 63.5 cm
Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader, 2013
56-003.15

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