The Queen of Sheba as depicted ca. 1405 in a Prague manuscript
The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon
A white queen with a black entourage
Canterbury cathedral 1170-1180
Window n.XV panel 27
I do not have a ready answer as to why she appears black in one depiction - Pargue c1405 - while in another - Canterbury 1170 - she is white. More research is required, which I plan to do over the comming months meanwhile I leave you with those two arresting and diametrcially apposed images of the Queen.
The above was posted 27th September 2013, today is 18th March 2017 , three and half years later. I've still not done the research but have come across an equivalent image to the Canterbury Cathedral Sheba.
Claude Lorrain (1604 -1682) in his Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba (1648)
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Detail from Claude's Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba
A white queen with black attendants
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In Claude's depiction we have the white Queen of Sheba attended to by two black maidservants - perhaps a referencing that Sheba was believed to be in Africa. Almost 500 years separate the two images both have essentially the same representation. More research still needed.....
