“Artaxerxes, Aman and Esther” ( Dutch: Ahasveros en Haman aan het feestmaal van Esther ) - a painting painted in 1660 by Rembrandt . Currently located in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts . Rembrandt was probably inspired by the play “Esther”, staged in Amsterdam in 1659 and dedicated to the wife of J. Hinlopen.
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| Rembrandt | ||
| Artaxerxes, Haman, and Esther . 1660 | ||
| Ahasveros en Haman aan het feestmaal van Esther | ||
| Oil on canvas . 73 × 94 cm | ||
| The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts , Moscow | ||
| ( inv. Zh-297 ) | ||
Story
The painting depicts the event described in the Book of Esther , Chapter 7. Judea Esther , the wife of the Persian king Artaxerxes, persuaded the king to come with the courtier Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to the feast prepared by her:
1 And the king and Haman came to feast with Esther the queen.
2 And the king of Esther also said on this second day at the feast, What is your desire, Queen Esther? it will be satisfied; and what is your request? at least until the half-kingdom, it will be executed.
3 And Queen Esther answered and said: If I found favor in your eyes, king, and if the king is well pleased, then may my life be granted to me, at my will, and my people, at my request!
4 For we, I and my people, have been sold for extermination, slaughter, and perdition. If we were sold as slaves and slaves, I would be silent, although the enemy would not have compensated the king.
5 And king Artaxerxes answered and said to Queen Esther: Who is this, and where is he who dared in his heart to do so?
6 And Esther said, Enemy and adversary is this evil Haman! And Haman trembled before the king and queen.
Description
Compositionally, the three characters in the picture are divided into two groups. On the right side of the canvas are Artaxerxes and the lavishly dressed Esther, sitting next to them, they are highlighted. To the left far from the spouses in the shade is Aman.
The painting shows the most climax of the drama. Esther had just finished her speech and didn’t even have time to give up. Artaxerxes closed his lips and resolutely squeezed the scepter, now he will stand up and leave in anger. Haman already realized that he was doomed and, hunched over, lowered his eyes.
On a gold platter, the artist placed an apple closer to Aman, and in front of Artaxerxes and Esther in a bunch of grapes. An apple can be interpreted as a symbol of sin, and grapes as a symbol of life and fertility.
Restorations
The painting suffered a fire in the XVIII century, since then the paint layer has been constantly destroyed, so it was subjected to deep restoration four times with a transfer to a new canvas (in 1819, 1900 and twice in Soviet times - the first time it was carried out by V. N. Yakovlev and P. D. Korin , the last - S. S. Churakov).
The fate of the painting
“Artaxerxes, Aman, and Esther” is one of the few Rembrandt paintings, which is fully known provenance . It is precisely known that in 1662 she was in the collection of J. Hinlopen in Amsterdam, then with his daughter S. Hinlopen. Then she went to the relative of her husband S. Hinlopen, N. Gelfink, and from him to G. Hoot from The Hague. After the death of Hut in 1760, the painting was sold at auction and fell into the collection of I.E. Gotskovsky . In 1764, Catherine II accepted the collection of Gotskovsky at the expense of his debt, and the painting was placed in the Hermitage, which was soon founded. In 1862, it was transferred to the Rumyantsev Museum , from where it entered the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in 1924.
Literature
- A. Verzhbitsky. Rembrandt's work