The Judgment of Solomon

Many nineteenth-century artists were fascinated by ancient Egypt, which had become popular thanks to excavations, engravings and photographs. Wappers painted a well-known biblical story, Solomon’s judgment, as taking place in an Egyptian interior. Two women of the same house had both given birth when they awake one morning to find one child dead. The mother who rises from the dead child's bed asserts it is not hers and accuses the other of having switched babies in the night. The dispute is later taken before Solomon, known for his wisdom and just sentencing.