272 THE STORIES OF NOTED PAINTINGS. 



THE QUEEN OF SHEBA AND HER TRAIN. 



By YENEZIANO BONIFACIO (born 1494, died 1563). A thou- 

 sand years before Christ, when Solomon was building his rich 

 and costly temple, and his trade and his fame had extended 

 through all the "Land of Ophir," there came up from the 

 farthest coast of the Red Sea a wealthy Arabian princess, to see 

 for herself the wisest man in the world. She questioned him 

 and " found that the half had not been told her." Costly gifts 

 were passed between them, and she led her princely train back to 

 her southern home. This is the only record of the Queen of 

 Sheba, who, but for this impulse of woman's curiosity, would 

 have left no mark on the ages or inspired no painter's fancy. 



AUCTION SALE. 



By A. LUBEN, of Munich. It is acknowledged in art circles 

 that this painting is Luben's master piece. To take an inventory 

 of a deceased naturalist's collections, and to find customers for 

 such odds and ends, are no slight test of an artist's ability. Yet 

 Luben has given us here a most complete picture of the old 

 books, the specimens, and the queer things that such an enthu- 

 siast would prize, and of the motley group that has gathered to 

 bid them down. The moral of it all is that the treasured collec- 

 tions we often seek so eagerly in life are very apt to come sooner 

 or later to point the joke of an auctioneer. 



CLEOPATRA DRINKING THE DISSOLVED PEARL. 



By G. B. TIEPOLO (born 1697, died 1770). The last of 

 Cleopatra's lovers was Marc Antony, the celebrated Roman 

 Triumvir, who for her sake became recreant to his country, his 

 family and his honor. But their attachment to each other seems 

 to have been extreme and worthy of a better relation. At one 

 time when Antony was in the east conquering kingdoms to add 

 to her empire, he sent, by one of the almost daily messengers 

 that passed between them, a magnificent oriental pearl which he 

 said he presented warm with his kisses to the queen of his heart 

 and of his ambition. The romantic woman had it dissolved in 

 acids, and drank it as a precious love philter. 



