In 1534, Hans Holbein, the King’s court painter, painted a miniature of the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba thought to refer to Henry’s establishment of the Church of England and the difficulties he had faced in obtaining a divorce. However, does this commission tell us more about Henry and Anne’s relationship than first meets the eye; their attraction and connectedness, which I am convinced was rooted in a meeting of minds.
I believe a fresh look at the biblical story of Solomon gives the miniature new meaning. By establishing the Church of England, Henry and Anne had succeeded in challenging the age-old pagan traditions the Catholic Church had emerged from, which had opposed biblical law for centuries.
King Solomon was the son of King David, the shepherd raised by God to become king of Israel after the death of King Saul.
Before his death, King David told his son, Solomon, that God had said to him that Solomon would build God’s house, as David had been a warrior king who had shed blood. Did Henry in 1534 now think of himself as a wise Solomon-type king whose destiny it had been to establish God’s true Church? It would appear so, as the miniature uses a biblical narrative to define Henry’s power as supreme governor of the Church.
However, the Holbein miniature becomes more interesting still when considering Solomon’s love affair with the Queen of Sheba because, Henry and Anne’s relationship somewhat mirrors their story. As Henry’s wife, one could assume that Anne played a role in the miniature’s commission.
Solomon challenges what marriage means to a king. At the beginning of his reign, King Solomon marries the Pharaoh’s daughter to prevent war. His councillors tell him that their issue can never rule Israel and Judah because their children will not be of pure blood. Here lies the first parallel. Like Solomon, Henry was young when he came to the throne and married Katherine of Aragon for diplomacy. However, some courtiers and nobles did not want an heir with foreign blood.
Later in his reign, Solomon meets and falls in love with the Queen of Sheba. Sheba proves to be his intellectual equal. Like Anne, the Queen of Sheba put the King to the test. At their first meeting, Sheba set Solomon riddles to solve, and she held off on a relationship with him until she was sure of him. Interestingly, the first riddle Sheba set Solomon was about fertility.
Solomon’s court elders disapproved of the relationship. Solomon says of Sheba. ‘I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light: for the light that cometh from her never goeth out.’
For her coronation in 1533, Anne chose the motto, ‘The moost Happy.’ Why she chose this motto has baffled historians. What I found striking when re-examining the miniature is its inscription on the side of the throne, which read: ‘Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom (II Chronicles 9: 7). Could it be that the story of Solomon’s kingship had deep meaning for Anne and Henry and that Anne used it to convey her happiness in establishing God’s Church and becoming Henry’s Queen as did Henry at this time with his commission?
www.rct.uk/collection/912188/solomon-and-the-queen-of-sheba