On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P00388
- Author
- Tintoretto, Jacopo Robusti (Italian)
- Title
- Esther and Ahasuerus
- Chronology
- Ca. 1555
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 59 cm x 203 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- No
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
This is one of six canvases in a
group linked by the same color
scheme, a general accentuation of
surface drawing and a rhythm of
curved forms that link on painting
to another. The scenes were
designed to be seen together, at a
certain height and laid out on
canvases conceived as inclined
planes that converged on a central
painting.
Clearly, this group was intended
for a profane setting. The biblical
themes have lost their dramatic
character and are little more than
an excuse to depict exotic
clothing, courtly ceremonies and
nude flesh. The finest of the cycle
are Joseph and the wife of
Putiphar, and Judith and
Holofernes, especially the
beautiful modeling of Holofernes
and of Putiphar's wife.
There is nothing like these
paintings in the rest of
Tintoretto's work, and it is thus
difficult to date them with any
certainty. The regular repetition
of small, calligraphic brushstrokes
on the tassels of clothing and
headdresses, the leaves of the
vegetation, the ringlets of hair
and the women's headdresses, create
a global decorative rhythm not
found in any of his other works.
