This picture by Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745–1807), from his Roman period (1763–1784), illustrates an episode from the Book of Esther about King Ahasuerus, the ruler of ‘one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from
India to Ethiopia’, his disobedient wife Vashti, and Esther. Esther was a niece of the wise courtier Mordecai the Jew, was crowned instead of Vashti, and then, risking her life, went to the king uninvited to save
her people from persecution by Ahasuerus’ vizier Haman. As it is written in the Old Testament, when Esther entered the throne room and saw the ruler, she ‘faltered, turned pale and fainted upon her maid’ . This
clear expression of respect and humility softened Ahasuerus’ rage. Overwhelmed by pity and compasssion, he touched her shoulder with his gold sceptre, thus showing his forgiveness for her impertinence in entering
the palace, where women were not permitted. This is the episode that Smuglewicz depicted. But people who do not know the story will see little piety and self-sacrifice in the image of Esther, for the eye is drawn
by the woman’s sensuality, accentuated by the ermine-lined silk shawl slipping off her pale shoulders, while the further course of events is shown in the characters’ body language. People who do know the Book of
Esther will undoubtedly see more. Many works of art from the 16th to the 18th centuries are distinguished by such multilayered meanings, in which biblical motifs are given a strong erotic flavour.
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