The Judgment of Solomon

This canvas was published in 1984 with an attribution to Juan de la Corte. It is, however, closer in style to Francisco Gutiérrez who produced various comparable works including a series in 1662 for the collegiate church at Villagarcía and one for the monastery at Serradilla. He made a witness statement in the document relating to Velázquez’s entry into the Order of Santiago, having met that artist in Rome in 1630 or the following year after Velázquez’s return to Madrid. Gutiérrez styled himself “don” and was of the lesser nobility due to his family’s origins in Bárcena valley in the Burgos mountains.

Gutiérrez depicted this biblical episode (I Kings 3, 16-28) in Villagarcía de Campos and in a work now in the Museo del Prado, which share the treatment of the upper part of the architecture, the steps of the throne, the flooring and the isolated figures of the soldiers. Other works by the artist include more fantastical buildings, on occasions based on prints by Hans Vredeman de Vries, and have smaller figures. As a result, the present canvas can be considered to date from the mid-century, prior to other known works by Gutiérrez. In contrast, Juan de la Corte preferred to depict battle scenes with more figures or landscapes and rarely used architectural settings. An artist who did use such settings was Matías Ximeno (doc. 1624-1656), who produced a signed work similar to this one and who cannot be ruled out as the creator of the present canvas.