Lot Essay
The subject was popular in Dutch art at the time, being treated by Lastman four times in his career (for the first time in 1623), and by Rembrandt three times in oil and once as an etching, including an oil of the same date as the present picture. Salomon himself had painted the subject in 1634, in a closely related composition. The story derives from Acts, VIII: 27ff., and tells how a eunuch, the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, whilst returning from Jerusalem, was converted to Christianity through a discussion with the apostle, Philip, about a passage from Isaiah.