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A strong woman for Chicago

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8/1/26 - Acquisition - Chicago, The Art Institute - As beautiful as she was courageous, Esther is one of the strong women of the Bible: she risked her life by going to her husband Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to reveal to him that she was Jewish. She made this confession in order to save her people, whom one of the royal ministers, the proud Haman, threatened with extermination.
Francken the Younger chose to stage the young woman who approaches the king despite the prohibition to enter the royal palace. Imploring, yet «at the height of her beauty», she kneels before him. Surrounded by his advisers, he sits enthroned, «dressed in all the ornaments of his solemn appearances, gleaming with gold and jewels, formidable to the utmost [1]». The artist did not capture the moment when the queen,…

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