portraiture there is that remarkable insight into the true nature and feelings of the sitter which is one of the greatest qualities of Holbein’s art. It is owing to the knowledge and mastery which are the basis of these Portrait-Studies—studies usually made with rapidity, but in which nothing essential has been missed by the penetrating eye and unerring hand of the artist—that so perfect a result is obtained with means apparently so slight. Delicacy and strength meet in them in exquisite combination; the flexibility and refinement of his line are always kept well under control, and there is no over-elaboration of detail to the detriment of character. Each drawing bears upon it the stamp of a style, and of a great style, which was Holbein’s own individual possession, in which freedom and truth are tempered and perfected by self-restraint. Footnote 606: Dimier, _French Painting in the Sixteenth Century_, p. 44. Footnote 607: Dimier, p. 205. [Illustration: VOL. II., PLATE 40 THE QUEEN OF SHEBA’S VISIT TO KING SOLOMON _Silver-point drawing washed with colour_ WINDSOR CASTLE ] [Sidenote: “THE QUEEN OF SHEBA”] To attempt even a list of Holbein’s more important drawings other than his portrait-studies would be quite beyond the scope of this book, in the course of which, however, many of them have been touched upon; but there still remain several which cannot be passed over in silence. Chief among them is the small drawing on parchment, highly finished like a miniature, in the Library, Windsor Castle, which represents the “Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon” (Pl. 40).[608] It is a composition containing no less than thirty-four small figures, and so, after the wall-paintings in the Basel Town Hall and the “Triumphs” of the London Steelyard, is one of the most considerable arrangements of grouping ever attempted by him. King Solomon is seated on a throne on a high daïs approached by a number of steps within a large chamber, the roof of which is supported by slender columns of Renaissance architecture. Behind the throne is suspended a large curtain, and on the steps on either side are placed groups of the elders and long-bearded wise men of Solomon’s kingdom. In the centre the Queen mounts the steps, her hands outstretched as though in wonder and admiration of the great king. In the foreground a procession of her ten ladies, walking two and two, passes towards the left, and on the right are a group of her attendants bearing rich presents, some of them kneeling with uplifted baskets. The drawing is in silver-point, slightly washed with grey and brown, and touched here and there with water-colour; the fruits in one of the baskets are red and green, and some of the draperies and details are touched with dead gold. The background between the pillars is blue powdered with gold stars. The Renaissance architecture of the setting is purer and less florid in style than is the case with many of Holbein’s earlier studies for glass paintings.