"The fame of Solomon having come to her ... the Queen of Sheba came to test him by enigmas. She brought to Jerusalem a very great wealth, camels bearing spices, gold and huge quantity of precious stones. When she arrived to Solomon, she offered him all she had pondered, but Solomon enlightened on all matters and none was for the king a secret he could not solve " [ 1] .
"The Queen of Sheba heard of the fame Solomon and came to Jerusalem to experience it through riddles. She arrived with very great riches, and camels bearing spices, gold and quantity of precious stones. When she was returned to Solomon, she conversed with him about everything she had meditated. Solomon enlightened on all matters and none was a mystery to him that he could not solve " [2] .
Claude Gellée here represents the moment when the Queen of Sheba left the glitzy port of his kingdom, in distant Arabia, to travel to Jerusalem. But the Red Sea greatly resembles course Tyrrhenian Sea, and the buildings of the port Villa Medici and towers that protect the ports of the Roman countryside ... Chez Claude, and it is his magnitude, there is no picturesque oriental like the romantic nineteenth century point of camels or large bags full of stones; just some luggage conveyed by dockers, tandis que la Reine descend dans la barque qui va l’emmener vers le vaisseau doré dont on entrevoit l’étrave dorée à gauche du tableau, derrière une ruine antique. La construction, typique du grand Lorrain, met en valeur le soleil levant, vers lequel convergent toutes les lignes de perspective, aussi bien celles que dessinent les édifices qui se succèdent à droite, que la colonne, les mâts de navire et le môle qui s’étagent en diminuant à gauche. Ici, l’astre du jour évoque la sagesse du roi Salomon, dont la reine de Saba veut sonder l’ampleur.
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| Claude Lorrain's Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, 1648. London, National Gallery. |
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