Queen of Sheba in Axum

Description

Both Ethiopia and Yemen lay claim to the Queen of Sheba (Sab’a in Arabic). The languages, scripts and symbolis of the Amharic and Sabaean cultures were closely related. This is the first of two paintings (the other still not completed) showing this legendary queen who is described in the Hebrew Bible, the Qur’an (as Bilqis), and the Kebra Nagast of Ethiopia, which narrates her foundation of the Solomonic line.

I left a knot in the wood visible inside her pregnant belly, and modeled her crown and adornments after Ethiopian illuminated manuscripts. The background colors are inspired by Rastafarian art, which holds Ethiopia in special reverence as the last uncolonized African kingdom.