Esther, King Ahasuerus and Haman
John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
circa 1763 - 1767
Materials
Ink, wash and paper.
Measurements
258 x 350 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 730994
Caption
The biblical story of the Esther is told in the eponymous book of the Old Testament. King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) of Persia chose Esther, a Jew, as his queen after his original wife, Vashti, disobeyed him. She was presented by her kinsman Mordecai but did not reveal she was Jewish until the King's chamberlain Haman ordered for a massacre of the Jews in the kingdom. Esther knew she needed to ask for mercy for her people but the king had a rule that anyone who presented themselves to him unbidden would be executed, unless he touched them with his golden sceptre, which he did. Esther is shown swooning in relief and Haman, who was subsequently hanged, is being restrained by soldiers. Esther is celebrated in the Jewish festival of Purim and the Christian Church regards her as the prefiguration of the Virgin Mary.
Summary
Pen and brown and black ink with grey wash, heightened with white, on paper, Esther, King Ahasuerus and Haman by John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1694 – London 1770), signed (in pencil): Michl Rysbrack sculptor. A group of turbaned men entering a classical interior from the right are restraining Haman, by the gesture of King Ahasuerus in the centre, on the left a group of three women support a fainting Esther.
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust along with Stourhead House, its grounds, and the rest of the contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946.
Makers and roles
John Michael Rysbrack (Antwerp 1684 – London 1770), artist