 |
Théodore Chassériau
Samana (Santo Domingo), 1819 - Paris, 1856
Esther Preparing Herself to Meet King Ahasuerus
1841
© Musée du Louvre/A. Dequier - M. Bard
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Technical information |
|
Théodore Chassériau
Samana (Santo Domingo), 1819 - Paris, 1856
Esther Preparing Herself to Meet King Ahasuerus
La Toilette d'Esther
1841
Oil on canvas
H. 45 cm; W. 35 cm
Baron Arthur Chassériau bequest, 1934
R.F. 3900
Paintings
|
|
 Interactive floor plans |
|
|
| Author(s) |
|
| Vincent Pomarède |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Esther Preparing Herself to Meet King Ahasuerus |
|
The biblical subject is a pretext for the evocation of a colorfully mythicized Orient. The sinuousness of the body recalls Ingres, but this generous, sensual nude is characteristic of the female type invented by Chassériau.
|
Subject as pretext
The biblical theme serves not as matter for a religious painting, but as a pretext for a variation on the Oriental odalisque. Esther is a woman of the East, one of those creatures, all curves and arabesques, imagined by Ingres, whose pupil Chassériau was. And indeed the picture, exuding sensuality and the love of fluid feminine contours, is reminiscent of Ingres and his odalisques. Yet if Esther is rendered as an Oriental, this is not the case of the sky, the background or the two figures flanking her. The fabrics, jewelry and chromatic harmony that enhance Esther's dazzling body testify to Chassériau's admiration for Delacroix.
Esther
The Book of Esther tells the story of a young Jewish woman who, deported to Babylon, becomes queen of the Persians and saves the captive Jews from massacre. However, the narrative also echoes Oriental tales recounting the taming of a tyrant by a beautiful slave girl.
History of the painting
Hung at the Salon in 1842, this painting remained in the artist's family until being bequeathed to the Louvre in 1934 by one of his distant descendents, Baron Arthur Chassériau.
|
|
|
Paintings : 
