Oil paint on plywood
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/duncan-grant-1203" aria-label="More by Duncan Grant" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Duncan Grant</a>
Queen Sheba
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1917
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: mammals
arch
architecture
author
beard
Bible: Old Testament
body
British
Cambridge Apostles
camel
couch
critic
features
furnishings
homosexuality
individuals: female
individuals: male
king
literary
man
named groups
named individuals
nationality
objects
people
portraits
queen
Queen of Sheba
religion and belief
royalty and social rank
sex and relationships
sitting
society
Solomon, King
Strachey, Lytton
Strachey, Pernel
window
woman
work and occupations
<p>Grant painted this in the spring of 1912 as part of an abortive decorative scheme for Newnham College, Cambridge. His cousin, Pernel Strachey, had been a student there and later became its Principal. Grant based the Queen of Sheba on Pernel Strachey, and King Solomon upon her brother, Grant’s great friend the writer Lytton Strachey. Lytton had a long square-cut auburn beard at this time, and Grant gives this physical attribute to King Solomon. Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet had been giving performances in London and Grant’s costumes probably owe a debt to this Russian influence. Also Karl Goldmark’s opera <i>The Queen of Sheba</i> was premièred in London in the winter of 1911.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
painting oil paint plywood
3 July 2009 – 18 November 2010
2010-11-18
3 July 2009 – 18 November 2010
2010-11-18
2009-07-03
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-07-03
The Bloomsbury Group
Collection based display
16 April 2011 – 9 October 2011
2011-10-09
16 April 2011 – 9 October 2011
2011-10-09
2011-04-16
Brighton Museum and Art Gallery (Brighton, UK)
http://www.brighton.virtualmuseum.info
2011-04-16
Radical Bloomsbury: Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant
Loan-out
28 March 2012 – 28 October 2012
2012-10-28
28 March 2012 – 28 October 2012
2012-10-28
2012-03-28
Charleston Trust (Lewes, UK)
2012-03-28
Centenary of 1912 Post-Impressionist Exhibition
Loan-out
24 March 2018 – 30 September 2018
2018-09-30
24 March 2018 – 30 September 2018
2018-09-30
2018-03-24
Artipelag (Stockholm, Sweden)
2018-03-24
The Bloomsbury Group
Loan-out
The Queen of Sheba
support: 1200 × 1200 mm
frame: 1335 × 1338 × 100 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1917
<p>Grant painted this in the spring of 1912 as part of an abortive decorative scheme for Newnham College, Cambridge.  His cousin, Pernel Strachey, had been a student there and later became its Principal.  Grant based the Queen of Sheba on Pernel Strachey, and King Solomon upon her brother, Grant’s great friend the writer Lytton Strachey.  Lytton had a long square-cut auburn beard at this time, and Grant gives this physical attribute to King Solomon.  Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet had been giving performances in London and Grant’s costumes probably owe a debt to this Russian influence.  Also Karl Goldmark’s opera <i>The Queen of Sheba</i> was premièred in London in the winter of 1911.
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N03169</b> THE QUEEN OF SHEBA 1912
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Oil on plywood, 47 1/4×47 1/4 (120×120).
<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1917.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by Roger Fry from the artist and sold to the C.A.S. 1912.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> <i>Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition</i>, Grafton Galleries, October–December 1912 (74); <i>Sandon Society</i>, Bluecoat Chambers, Liverpool, February–March 1913 (24); C.A.S, <i>First Public Exhibition in London</i>, Goupil Gallery, April 1913 (17); <i>Twentieth Century Art</i>, Whitechapel Art Gallery, May–June 1914 (364); Tate Gallery, May–June 1959, and Arts Council tour, 1959 (24).
<br/><i>Lit:</i>
Mary Chamot, <i>Modern Painting in England</i>, 1937, p.48.
<br/><i>Repr:</i>
<i>Tate Gallery Illustrations</i>, 1928, pl.108; John Rothenstein, <i>The Tate Gallery</i>, 1962, p.253.</p>
<p>The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> was undertaken as a sketch for a scheme of decoration in part of the cloister at Newnham College, Cambridge, under the auspices of Miss Jane Harrison. Other artists were to take part in the scheme, but eventually it came to nothing and this was the only design produced. It was painted at Brunswick Square in 1912.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-05T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults animals: mammals arch architecture author beard Bible: Old Testament body British Cambridge Apostles camel couch critic features furnishings homosexuality individuals: female individuals: male king literary man named groups named individuals nationality objects people portraits queen Queen of Sheba religion and belief royalty and social rank sex and relationships sitting society Solomon, King Strachey, Lytton Strachey, Pernel window woman work and occupations