The Judgement of Solomon

Jean-François de Troy's The Judgement of Solomon, painted in 1742 and held in the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon, depicts the climactic moment from 1 Kings when King Solomon proposes to divide the disputed infant between two women who each claim to be the mother — a test that reveals the true mother through her willingness to give up her child rather than see it harmed. The subject was a perennial favourite in European history painting as a demonstration of wisdom and justice. De Troy's late version, painted while he was director of the French Academy in Rome, shows his mature command of large-scale figure composition with Venetian coloristic warmth.

De Troy deploys a high-keyed palette with strong value contrasts, Solomon enthroned above the tense drama below. The soldier raising his sword provides a diagonal thrust answered by the true mother's gesture of surrender. Figures are broadly painted with the loose, confident handling of de Troy's mature style.