Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther
Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther | |
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Artist | Rembrandt |
Year | 1660 |
Dimensions | 73 cm × 94 cm (29 in × 37 in) |
Location | Pushkin Museum, Moscow |
The painting Ahasveros and Haman at the Feast of Esther is one of the few works of
There are only three figures in the picture and the banquet is suggested sketchily. Esther lowers her arms apprehensively as she finishes her speech, the king's lips are pursed in anger, and Haman's pose reveals a sense of doom. The distance between the king and his vizier seems enormous, while the king and queen form a united pair.[1]
Subject
The subject is an episode from chapters 5-7 of the
According to the Pushkin Museum this is one of the best creations of Rembrandt's late period.
The dramatic conflict between the three persons is expressed through their restrained but eloquent gestures. The scene has a tense atmosphere of suspense. The figure of Esther is radiant, her robe with a long train is gleaming as if with precious stones. Haman is immersed in the shadows. Rembrandt achieves great depth in rendering the inner life, the spiritual energy of his characters.[3]
Rembrandt
Rembrandt was inspired by the play Hester, by Johannes Serwouters (1623-1677), when painting Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther. The play was first performed in 1659 in the
in Eastern Europe. Her husband may have ordered the painting, in this way helping Rembrandt being in financial difficulties.After its completion in 1660,
- "Here one sees Haman eating with Ahasuerus and Esther.
- "But it is in vain; his breast is full of regret and pain.
- "He eats Esther's food; but deeper into her heart.
- "The king is mad with revenge and rage.
- "The wrath of a monarch..."[7]
Provenance
Part of Jan Hinlopen's collection passed to his two daughters, this painting was one of them.
In 1760 Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther was sold as number 45 at an auction, listed as coming from Nicolaes Geelvinck, and organized after the death of Gerard Hoet, a minor painter but important collector in The Hague.[9]
In 1764 the painting came to Catherine the Great, most probably through the German entrepreneur Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, in financial trouble after the Seven Years' War. After receiving 320 paintings at one time from Gotzkowsky, the Russian Tsarina started the Hermitage.
Probably advised by
See also
References
- ^ Tyazehlov, V. N. (2008) The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Room 10, p. 310.
- ^ Webberley, Helen (February 2008). "The Purim Story and the Dutch Artists". Rembrandt and The Purim Story. Jewishmag.com.
- ^ The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0-500-09331-8, p. 112; Schwartz, G. (1987) Rembrandt, zijn leven, zijn schilderijen. Een nieuwe biografie met alle beschikbare schilderijen in kleur afgebeeld, p. 272-6.
- ^ Dudok van Heel, S.A.C. (1969) De Rembrandt's in de verzamelingen Hinlopen. In: Maandblad Amstelodamum, pp. 233-237. (In Dutch.)
- ^ Vos, Jan (1726). Alle de gedichten van Jan Vos. pp. 360–63, 388, 516, 536.
- ^ From: Slive, S. (1953) Rembrandt and his critics, 1630-1730, p. 52.
- ^ One of her in-laws mentioned in his diary she left a considerable amount of money being stingy. In: Het dagboek van J. Bicker Raye, bewerkt door F.M. Bijerinck & M.G. de Boer, (1935), p. 172.
- ^ Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelver prysen, zedert ... 1752. tot ... 1768. ... openbaar verkogt. Dienende tot een vervolg ... op de ... cataloguen door Gerard Hoet ... / Uitgegeeven door Pieter Terwesten, 1770. pp. 220-234.