Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman

Jan Steen's Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman from around 1668 depicts the Old Testament story of the Jewish queen who revealed the plot of the evil minister Haman to destroy the Jews of Persia, saving her people at the risk of her own life. Steen treated biblical subjects as occasions for the same kind of richly populated, dramatically organized narrative that characterized his secular genre scenes, the Esther banquet scene providing a spectacular feast setting with the full cast of Persian court characters. His biblical paintings demonstrate that the moralizing narrative structure of his secular genre work derived ultimately from his engagement with biblical narrative as a literary source.

Steen's oil on canvas uses dramatic lighting and expressive gesture to heighten the narrative tension, with rich, warm colors and carefully staged figure arrangement creating a scene of theatrical confrontation.