The Judgement of Solomon

The painting has a warm and a cold side. This polarization concerns both the grouping of the colors and the story itself. The warm colors - the yellow garments of the true mother, Solomon’s red cloak and golden throne - against the cold hues - the executioner’s blue sash, the false mother’s icily white dress, and the twisted silvery columns behind her.

The first Book of Kings in the Bible (3:16-28) tells the story of how King Solomon had to pass judgment in a case concerning two prostitutes who lived in the same house and had given birth at the same time. One of the children died shortly afterwards, and now both women claimed the living child as theirs. King Solomon’s wisdom and sense of justice led him to have a sword brought in and to order the living child cloven in two so that the women could share it. This order provoked the desired response in the true mother who gave up her half in the hope of saving the child’s life.