"Wisdom of Solomon"
Valentin de Boulogne (1591–1632), The Judgment of Solomon (c 1625), oil on canvas, 176 x 210 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Valentin de Boulogne’s painting of about 1625 is intimate, shutting extraneous objects out in the dark, including the all-important sword. Here the sword has yet to be raised; although he suggests that the mother on the left is trying to prevent the baby from being cut in two, she is facing away, and both her facial expression and body language are harder to read as a result. The mother on the right clutches her chest and looks in earnest too, confounding the story.