Art Institute of Chicago

Esther Before Ahasuerus

Frans Francken II (Flemish, 1581–1642)LinkedCulture matchlcp-78506a97265b

Date: 1622
Medium: Oil on panel
Culture: Flanders
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID: 274209

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

This painting depicts a scene from the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Esther, the story behind the Jewish holiday of Purim. Queen Esther kneels before her husband, the Persian King Ahasuerus, requesting an audience. Over the course of two dinners, she reveals her own Jewish identity and the plot of the king’s advisor to annihilate her people, which is ultimately thwarted. The Hebrew Bible often served as a source for early modern Northern painters; here, Frans Francken II cleverly emphasized this heroine’s multiple virtues. He highlighted her bravery by showing her reaching out to grasp the king’s scepter as well as her eloquence and cunning, symbolized by the parrot and statue of the hybrid Greek god Hermathena.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: In memory of a young boy who delighted in the story of Esther and of all those he loved and who love him
Provenance: Possibly Suzanna Bernoille (died 1649), Antwerp by 1629 [Duverger 1987, p. 156, Doc. 670 and Duverger 1992, pg. 39, Doc. 1580]. Possibly Jan van Meurs (1583–1652), Antwerp [Duverger 1992, p. 267, Doc. 1745, p. 296, Doc. 1769]. Probably Edmund Larken, Esq. (1766–1831), London [this and the following according to annotated sales catalogue at the Getty Research Institute; copy in curatorial file]; sold, his estate sale, Christie & Manson, London, June 16–17, 1831, lot 91 to “Ewart”. Private collection, Belgium; sold, Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, May 9, 2006, lot 11, to Johnny van Haeften, London; sold to The Leiden Collection, New York, 2006 [this and the following according to email correspondence from Salomon Lilian, July 30, 2025; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Salomon Lilian, Geneva, 2023; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2025.