An interior of a palace, probably the Palazzo Borghese in Rome, with the Judgement of Solomon,
oil on canvas, 102.5 x 160 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, France

The present depiction of a palace interior, with its use of mathematical perspective, antique statuary, and Antwerp mannerist staffage, modelled by intense lighting contrasts, is typical of the painting school which followed in the wake of the great architect, painter and theorist, Hans Vredemen de Vries (1527–1607). The scene on the right side of the composition can be identified as the Judgement of Solomon, in which King Solomon ruled between two women claiming to be the mother of a child.

The architectural setting of the present work is thought to be a capriccio loosely based upon Rome’s Palazzo Borghese. A titan of the Antwerp artistic scene, de Vries’s popular oeuvre, making use of meticulous architectural design, was widely copied, and his posthumously published work on the subject, Perspective (Leiden, 1604) was hugely influential on the development of the later Northern Mannerist and early Baroque periods. His son, Paul Vredeman de Vries worked in his father’s style, along with the Danish-Dutch master Peter Isaacsz, although the authorship of the present work remains an open art historical question.