WET, Jacob Willemsz. de, the Elder
(b. ca. 1610, Haarlem, d. 1675, Haarlem)

The Idolatry of Solomon

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Oil on panel, 54 x 74 cm
Private collection

Toward the end of his life, King Solomon became increasingly obsessed with pagan cults, which contributed to the decline and finally to the division of his kingdom. In the 1500s, artists from Protestant countries used the subject of Solomon's idolatry to warn against the use of imagery in the Roman Catholic Church.