Esther before Ahasuerus
Jan Adriaensz van Staveren(Leiden 1613/14 – 1669 Leiden)

ca. 1640–45
oil on panel
86.7 x 75.2 cm
signed in light paint along angel’s shield onarmrest of king’s throne: “JOHANNESSTAVEREN 1(6?)(??)”
JvS-100© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Esther before Ahasuerus
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How to cite
Van Tuinen, Ilona. “Esther before Ahasuerus” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archived
December 2023).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

During the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, the beautiful Jewish orphan Esther,

Comparative Figures

heroine of the Old Testament Book of Esther, won the heart of the austere Persian
king Ahasuerus and became his wife (Esther 2:17). Esther had been raised by her
cousin Mordecai, who made Esther swear that she would keep her Jewish identity asecret from her husband. However, when Ahasuerus appointed as his minister the antiSemite Haman, who issued a decree to kill all Jews, Mordecai begged Esther to reveal
her Jewish heritage to Ahasuerus and plead for the lives of her people. Esther agreed,saying to Mordecai: “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I
perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).
Esther’s dramatic words were not exaggerated. Not only was it risky to confess her
long-kept secret, but anyone who approached the king without being summoned also
risked the death penalty unless Ahasuerus extended his golden scepter as a sign ofbenevolence (Esther 4:11). Fortunately, Ahasuerus adored his wife and lowered his
scepter upon seeing her. While touching the tip of the scepter, Esther invitedFig 1. Jan van Staveren, The
Circumcision of Christ, 1640, oil on
panel, 9.2 x 56.8 cm, Sale, Sotheby’s,London, 1 November 2007, no. 94

Ahasuerus and Haman to a banquet. During this banquet, Esther disclosed her Jewish
identity and told Ahasuerus of Haman’s plan to kill her people. The enraged
Ahasuerus had Haman executed and appointed Mordecai as his minister instead. The
brave Esther thus prevented the annihilation of the Jews.
Jan van Staveren has situated the scene in a grand hall with red and grey marble
columns and multiple arches receding into the background. Seated in an elaborate
golden throne decorated with lush ornamental curls and impressive lion-shaped
armrests, the powerful king towers above the disproportionately small figure of thequeen.[1] Wearing a turban adorned with feathers and a jeweled ornament consisting© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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of a ruby and three pearls, Ahasuerus is clad in a fur-trimmed, red velvet robe with
gold-brocade patterns identical to those of the cushion beneath his golden slippers.
Esther, who gracefully bows her head as she touches the tip of the scepter, is lavishly
attired in “her royal robes” (Esther 5:1). Her silver satin dress is trimmed with gold
brocade and adorned with precious stones, and her crown is decorated with feathers
and an ornament identical to that in her husband’s turban. Nevertheless, by portraying
Esther in a light-colored dress separating her from the crimson, brown, and golden
hues surrounding her, and by placing her alone in the center of the composition, Van
Staveren poignantly emphasizes her fragile circumstances in this courtly drama.
Signed “Johannes Staveren” on the cartouche held by the sculpted angel on
Ahasuerus’s armrest, Van Staveren probably executed this work, which is one of his
most ambitious paintings, in the first half of the 1640s.[2] The composition strongly
relates to his Circumcision of Christ, dated 1640 (fig 1).[3] Both paintings are executed

Fig 2. Jan van Staveren, A Hermit at
Prayer in a Grotto with Classical Ruins,
1641, oil on panel, 61 x 47 cm, Private
Collection, photo © Christie’s Images /Bridgeman Images

in a similar palette and depict a grand, lofty space with arches and ornamental pillars.
In each instance three separate groups, two on the main floor and one in an elevatedmarble courtyard in the background, witness the main scene in the foreground. A
similar background with a multi-arched edifice also appears in Van Staveren’s Hermit
at Prayer in a Grotto with Classical Ruins, dated 1641 (fig 2), and in his Praying
Hermit, dated to the mid-1640s (fig 3).[4] The face of the hermit in this latter work issimilar to the old man standing directly behind Ahasuerus’s scepter, suggesting that
Van Staveren worked with the same model or prototype in this period of his career.
Several elements of the composition are reminiscent of Gerrit Dou’s (1613–75) workof the 1640s, suggesting that Van Staveren adopted them from his fellow townsman[5]and possible teacher.

The prominent, dark blue parasol in the background of Van

Staveren’s painting, no doubt a reference to the exotic setting of the story, appears in

Fig 3. Jan van Staveren, Praying
Hermit, ca. 1645, oil on panel, 33 x 27
cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, SKC-228

Dou’s work from the mid-1630s until well into the 1650s.[6] The reliefs of dancing,
naked putti surrounding the bottoms of the grey marble columns in the background of
Esther before Ahasuerus also feature in several works by Dou, such as his 1646
portrait of Johan Wittert van der Aa in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.[7]An important visual source for Van Staveren’s interpretation of this biblical narrative
was undoubtedly a 1564 engraving of Esther before Ahasuerus by Maarten van
Heemskerck (1498–1574) (fig 4). In Van Heemskerck’s composition, the scene is set
in a similar grand space with arches and columns in the background, and shows Esther
kneeling obediently on the steps of Ahasuerus’s high throne.[8] It is also possible that
Van Staveren drew inspiration from the theater. Indeed, the red velvet curtain hanging
from the top and sides of the painting, as well as the rhetorical gestures andFig 4. Philips Galle after Maarten van
Heemskerck, Esther before Ahasuerus,
1564, engraving, 200 x 245 cm,
London, The British Museum,
Department of Prints and Drawings,
inv. 1923,1106.4, © Trustees of the
British Museum

expressive glances of the onlookers, suggest that we are watching a theatricalscene.[9] There were several Dutch plays devoted to the story of Esther that Van© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Staveren could have known, for instance Jacob van Zevecote’s 1621 play Esther, orNicolaes Fonteyn’s 1638 play Esther, ofte ’t beeldt der ghehoorsaamheid (Esther, or the
Picture of Obedience).[10]Two figures on the left of Ahasuerus’s throne, the seated, somewhat stern-looking
man in a blue-feathered turban and the stodgy man in a fur bonnet holding a letter,look as though they might represent specific characters in the story. It is possible thatthey depict, respectively, Mordecai, who incited Haman’s rage by refusing to stand up
in his presence, and Haman. Although Mordecai does not appear in court and Haman
is not present during the meeting between Esther and Ahasuerus in the Book of
Esther, it is likely that Van Staveren combined various elements of the story or
referenced a play in which the playwright had taken certain liberties.[11] For instance,
in Joannes Serwouter’s 1659 play, Hester, oft verlossing der Jooden (Esther, or the
Deliverance of the Jews), Haman is present during the encounter between Esther andAhasuerus.[12] It is also possible that the man holding the letter is Ahasuerus’s
chamberlain Thares, a character from the theater that does not feature in the Book of
Esther. In Serwouter’s description of this scene, and possibly in earlier plays as well,Thares hides a letter containing a plot to kill the king under his garments. When
Ahasuerus finds out about the letter he orders Haman to read it out loud. If this figure
in Van Staveren’s painting depicts Thares, Haman could be the seated man in the bluefeathered turban.[13]The large number of Dutch plays devoted to the story of Esther stems from theparallels the Dutch saw between Esther’s triumph over Haman, which saved herpeople from the threat of extinction, and their own victory over Spain.[14] Thisconnection would undoubtedly have appealed to the first owner of Van Staveren’s
painting.

- Ilona van Tuinen, 2017

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Endnotes
1. For the throne, Van Staveren was clearly inspired by the legendary throne of King Solomon, describedin Kings 1:18–20 as being covered in gold and having six steps and the figure of a lion on each side of
the throne. Because of their similar subject matter, this throne often appears both in scenes of the Queenof Sheba before King Solomon and of Esther before Ahasuerus. For an elaborate depiction of thethrone, which was probably not known to Van Staveren but illustrates the pictorial tradition, see Artus
Quellinus, The Queen of Sheba before King Solomon, oil on canvas, 151 x 237 cm, Vienna, Liechtenstein
Collection. Quellinus even included the multiple lions that allegedly stood next to Solomon’s throne.
Already in the sixteenth century, Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574) incorporated elements of the
Bible’s description of Solomon’s throne, especially the lion armrests and the six steps, in his 1564
engraving Esther before Ahasuerus (see fig. 4).
2. For a similar dating, see Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 6 vols. (Landau and Pfalz,
1983–94), 6: 3743, 4066, no. 2447, who makes a stylistic comparison between Esther before Ahasuerus,
Van Staveren’s 1640 Circumcision of Christ (fig. 1), then in the Galerie Caretto-Turin, and his 1646 Nolime Tangere in the Cevat Collection.
3. Although the painting was said to be monogrammed by Gerrit Dou when it was sold at auction in 2007,
this work is now rightly attributed to Van Staveren. There is no reason to question the authenticity of thedate.
4. The first painting was sold at Christie’s, New York, 4 April 2007, as no. 53. For the second of thesepaintings (Rijksmuseum), see Eric Jan Sluijter et al., Leidse Fijnschilders: van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van
Mieris de Jonge, 1630–1760 (Exh. cat. Leiden, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal) (Zwolle, 1988), 227, no.
77. Sluijter dates this painting to the mid-1640s based on a stylistic comparison with Staveren’s two
paintings with hermits, one in the Národni Galerie in Prague, dated 1644, and the other in the Statens
Museum in Copenhagen, dated 1650.
5. See Piet Bakker’s biography of Jan van Staveren in this catalogue, in which he discusses the uncertainty
surrounding our knowledge of the relationship between Dou and Van Staveren. Although the similarities
between Dou’s and Van Staveren’s work suggest a teacher-pupil relationship, both artists were aroundthe same age.
6. For instance, in ca. 1635 Dou included a closed, dark blue parasol in the background of his Scholar
Interrupted at His Writing in the present collection (see GD-102), and an open parasol in his Self-Portrait,ca. 1645, oil on panel, 12.4 x 8.3 cm, Kremer Collection, and Quack, 1652, oil on panel, 112.4 x 83.4
cm, Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, inv. St.4. See Dominique Surh’s entry on GD-102
for a symbolic reading of the parasol. In Esther before Ahasuerus, Van Staveren appears to haveincluded the parasol only as a reference to the exotic locale. For other paintings with scenes set in the
Far East and including parasols, see, for instance, Moyses van Wtenbrouck, Moses Found by theDaughter of Pharaoh, 1623, oil on panel, 50 x 74.5 cm, sale, Servarts, Brussels, 11 September 1999, no.
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Esther before Ahasuerus
Page 6 of 8414, and Jan Victor’s much later Portrait of a Family in Eastern Attire, 1670, oil on canvas, 99 x 133.5
cm, sale, Sotheby’s, London, 3 July, 1997, no. 225.
7. Gerrit Dou, Portrait of Johan Wittert van der Aa, 1646, oil on panel, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Dou
continued to use this motif throughout the rest of his career. See also The Doctor, 1653, oil on panel,
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; Young Mother, 1658, oil on panel, The Hague, Mauritshuis; andAstronomer by Candlelight, ca. 1665, oil on panel, 32 x 21.1 cm, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los
Angeles. Interestingly, the putti in Dou’s painting are facing outward, whereas Van Staveren’s figures areseen from the back.
8. For a later depiction of this scene that more or less follows Heemskerck’s composition, see Jan Steen’s
Esther Before Ahasuerus, ca. 1665, oil on panel, 106 x 39 cm, The State Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg, inv. 878.
9. See also Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “The Wrath of Ahasuerus,” in H. Perry Chapman, Wouter Th. Kloek,
and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Jan Steen, Painter and Storyteller, ed. Guido Jansen (Exh. cat. Washington
D.C., National Gallery of Art; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (New Haven, 1996), 241–44, for his
discussion of Jan Steen’s painting The Wrath of Ahasuerus dated to ca. 1671–73, in which Steen’s
similarly dramatic representation can be explained by the artist’s reliance on Serwouter’s play.
10. According to Ceneton, the Leiden University database of Dutch theater plays, there are no known copies
of Jacob van Zevecote’s Esther; the 1623 edition of this play, printed in Antwerp, has copies in theStadsbibliotheek Antwerpen and the Gent University Library. According to Ceneton, there are twocopies of Nicolaes Fonteyn, Esther, ofte ’t beeldt der ghehoorsaamheid (Amsterdam, 1638), one in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (inv. F: Yi. 626), and one at the Leiden University Library(inv. 1091 D 13 : 2). The present author has not had the opportunity to consult the plays by Zevecote andFonteyn. As for other plays about Esther written before 1650, Ceneton further lists Hester en Assverus,
written by an anonymous author in around 1599, a copy of which is in the Rijksarchief in Hasselt, theNetherlands; and Joris Berckmans’s 1649 Esther, a copy of which is in the Royal Library in Brussels. See
also Theodor Dunkelgrün, “Neerlands Israel: Political Theology, Christian Hebraism, Biblical
Antiquarianism, and Historical Myth,” in Myth in History, History in Myth, ed. Laura Cruz and Willem
Frijhoff (Leiden, 2009), 201–36, esp. n. 23, for the mention of two additional plays: Abraham deKoning’s 1618 Esther and Jacob Revius’s 1630 Haman, a Tragedy, not listed in Ceneton or Digital
Library for Dutch Literature (DBNL).
11. Esther 5: “Mordecai sat outside the king’s gate, since he was not authorized to appear in the king’s court.
Haman was not present either, but was later summoned by Ahasuerus.”
12. Joannes Serwouter, Hester, oft verlossing der Jooden (Hester, or the Deliverance of the Jews)(Amsterdam, 1659). According to Ceneton, the Leiden University database of Dutch theater plays,
Serwouter’s play appears to have been very popular: it was reprinted five times, in 1662, 1667, 1698,
1732, and 1751.
13. Joannes Serwouter, Hester, oft verlossing der Jooden (Hester, or the Deliverance of the Jews)(Amsterdam, 1659), 27–30, in the third act. Without knowledge of the contents of the earlier plays by© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Fonteyn and Van Zevecote, however, it remains impossible to ascertain whether Thares appears in theseplays as well, and thus whether Van Staveren could have known about Thares in the 1640s.
14. For the connection between Esther’s triumph and the Dutch victory, see, for instance, Theodor
Dunkelgrün, “Neerlands Israel: Political Theology, Christian Hebraism, Biblical Antiquarianism, andHistorical Myth,” Myth in History, History in Myth, ed. Laura Cruz and Willem Frijhoff (Leiden, 2009),
201–36, and Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches (London, 1987), 102–3.

Provenance(Sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 3 December 1959, no. 109 [for 35,000 Austrian shillings]).
(Sale, Am Kinsky, Vienna, 15 March 2005, no. 1 [Jack Kilgore & Co., Inc., New York]).
From whom acquired by the present owner, 2005.

Exhibition History
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, “Work, Pray & Admire: New Views on Calvinism and Art,” 11November 2018–26 May 2019 [lent by the present owner].
Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam, “Rembrandt and his Contemporaries: History Paintings from The
Leiden Collection,” 4 February–27 August 2023, no. 26 [lent by the present owner].

References
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. 6 vols. Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94, 6: 3743, 4066,
no. 2447.
Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr., Christiaan Vogelaar, and Caroline van Cauwenberge. Rembrandt and His
Contemporaries: History Paintings from The Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Hermitage
Amsterdam. Zwolle, 2023, 118–21, no. 26. [Exhibition catalogue also published in Dutch.]

Technical Summary
The support is a rectangular composite panel comprising three vertically grained oak planks of three© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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different widths and two vertical shims.[1] There are no bevels or machine tool marks. A traditional cradle
has been removed and a spring-loaded, wooden, secondary support adhered.[2] There is one red wax
collection seal and one import stamp, but no stencils, labels, or panel maker’s marks.
Under magnification, there appear to be two thinly and evenly applied light-colored ground layers separated
by paint. The paint along the architecture and swags of drapery in the background has been applied smoothly
and opaquely. Details along Esther’s garment edge, elaborate jewels, and Ahasuerus’s garment and throne
have been applied with low rounded brushwork and delicate impasto.
A network of drying cracks across the left plank suggests a compositional change. The X-radiograph reveals
two narrow arches along the upper half of the left plank, where the marble columns and architecturalelements below the red drapery are located in the final composition. The right side of the the right archforms an abruptly cropped vertical line directly at the join between the left and central planks, rather thanextending onto the central plank in a diffuse way. Further investigation is required to determine whether theleft plank had been previously used or if it was added and the composition widened on the left side during
the paint stage.
No underdrawing is evident in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. The images suggest acompositional change to Esther’s proper right sleeve. Additional drying cracks suggest changes during thepaint stage to the left and right side of Ahasuerus’s head, along the small figures’ heads to the left and right ofthe base of the gray column, along Esther’s proper right sleeve, and in a circular pattern in Ahasuerus’s red
garment, directly below his outstretched gold staff.
The painting is signed and dated in light paint along the angel’s shield on the armrest of the King’s throne.
The painting underwent panel work and was cleaned and restored prior to acquisition in 2005. It is in goodcondition and in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on visual examination only.
2. A small wood patch has also been applied to the reverse of a knot in the central plank. The panelwork
was undertaken by George Bisacca, paintings conservator, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection