Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman (c. 1668): Art, History and Details

Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman (c. 1668) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jan Steen (Dutch, 1626–1679).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Esther, the wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, effectively concealed her Jewish identity until the prime minister Haman hatched a plot to annihilate the kingdom’s Jews. To save her people Esther persuades the king (at the center) to rescind his order. He then turns against Haman, who slumps in his seat, aware of his sudden fall from power and his bleak future.

Object facts

• Title: Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman
• Date: c. 1668
• Creator attribution: Jan Steen (Dutch, 1626–1679)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 96.5 x 119.5 x 11 cm (38 x 47 1/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 70 x 93 cm (27 9/16 x 36 5/8 in.)
• Collection: P - Netherlandish-Dutch
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1964.153

A detail from the museum

At the center of this biblical scene, Steen included elements of a typical Dutch still life: a Roemer glass, a half-peeled lemon, and a blue-and-white porcelain dish.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bredius, Abraham, Jan Steen (Amsterdam, 1927)
• Martin, Willem, "Neues uber Jan Steen," Zeitschrift fur Bildende Kunst, LXI (1927-28)
• Thieme, Ulrich, and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, XXXI (Leipzig, 1937)

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.