Esther Before Ahasuerus (Tintoretto)

Esther Before Ahasuerus
Artist	Tintoretto
Year	1546–47 (1546–47)
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	207.7 cm × 275.5 cm (81.8 in × 108.5 in)
Location	Kensington Palace, London
Owner	Royal Collection
Accession	RCIN 407247
Website	Royal Collection

Esther Before Ahasuerus is a large painting of 1546–47 by the Venetian painter Tintoretto showing a scene from the Greek addition to the Book of Esther, in which Queen Esther faints during a bold intervention with her husband King Ahasuerus of Persia. In oil on canvas, it measures 207.7 by 275.5 centimetres (81.8 in × 108.5 in). Since the 1620s it has been in the Royal Collection of the United Kingdom, and in 2019 it hung in the King's Gallery in Kensington Palace, London.^[1]

The degree of finish varies considerably between different parts of the painting, which, with the intense colours and dramatic contrasts in lighting, is characteristic of Venetian painting. The orange-yellow pigment orpiment in the robe of the king has altered; it would originally have matched the biblical description of his splendid gold robe.^[2]

The painting is dated, largely on stylistic grounds, to about 1546–47, relatively early in Tintoretto's career, when he was still in his late twenties. It comes shortly before his first major commission, Saint Mark Rescuing the Slave, now in the Accademia, Venice.^[3]