A Queen (Queen of Sheba?)

French Sculptor, August Gerber (cast maker)

Artist: French Sculptor

August Gerber
(cast maker)
Köln
Dated: ca. 1175-1200 (original), 1909 (cast)
Classification: sculpture, plaster cast
Medium: plaster cast
Dimensions: 242 × 45 × 42 cm
Inv.no.: Rg.117
Department: Sculpture
Current Location of the Original Artwork: France, Paris, Musée du Louvre
Location: National Museum Conservation and Storage Centre (Budapest), Building A, Ground Floor. European Architectural Sculpture. Selection from the Cast Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts. Visible Storage

The plaster cast was made of a jamb figure from the portal of the former Church of Our Lady in Corbeil-Essonnes near Paris. During the French Revolution, the church built in the twelfth century was desecrated. After being acquired by the municipality it was used as a fodder and timber storage and its sculptural decoration was damaged. The ruinous building was demolished in the early nineteenth century. The two Gothic jamb figures that have survived are preserved in the collection of the Muséedu Louvre in Paris. They have recently been identified as depictions of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Commissioned by the museum in 1909, the cast was made by August Gerber in Cologne. It was exhibited in the Romanesque Hall in 1910.