Oil painting on canvas depicting a scene from the Book of Esther, a text contained in the Christian Old Testament and especially in the Jewish Bible, which celebrates the event with the festival of Purim. The painting can be attributed to the Calabrian painter Francesco Cozza (Stilo, 1605 – Rome, January 13, 1682) or to a skilled pupil very close to his pictorial style. In fact, the skillful use of chiaroscuro, the naturalness of perspective, and the chromaticity of the colors seem to recall his marvelous works. The canvas has been recently cleaned and restored and is therefore in perfect condition; the same applies to its contemporary, sandblasted and gilded frame.
Francesco Cozza (Stilo, 1605 – Rome, January 13, 1682) After spending his youth in his native Calabria, Francesco Cozza moved to Rome where he was an apprentice to Domenichino. His presence is in fact registered in Rome at the parish of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, a guest of the Minimi of San Francesco di Paola, shortly before 1630, the year Domenichino traveled to Naples. He remained a guest of the Minimi until 1634; during this period he followed Domenichino to Naples and Frascati. He remained in Rome and its surroundings for the remaining years of his life. He died on January 13, 1682. He was a follower of Lanfranco and Mattia Preti in a more mature phase.
Description of the depiction: Esther, the young Jewish wife of King Ahasuerus, who presents herself to him to implore mercy for her people and faints from fear. The identity of the queen and King Ahasuerus is illustrated, with didactic clarity, by their crowns. The scene is completed on the left by the handmaids supporting the queen and on the right by two male figures: the elderly man with a beard and uncovered head is Mordecai, the relative who adopted Esther upon her parents' death and who facilitated her marriage to the king, advising her to keep her religious identity secret until the opportune moment. While the man next to King Ahasuerus, with his head covered by a peach-colored cloak, can be identified as Haman, the prime minister who had ordered the extermination of the Jews and who, following Esther's expressed desire to Ahasuerus to save the Jewish people, will be hanged by order of the King.
The painter's interest in scenic compositions and the studied characterization of the figures immediately emerge. In this work, Esther's figure is subjected to a certain luminosity, giving her greater prominence compared to the other characters populating the scene. The drama that the painter intends to give to the scene through the expressions and movements of the characters is interesting, for example: the representation of the effort of the handmaid on the right to support Esther, who was losing consciousness, and the instinctive movement of King Ahasuerus who rises from his throne to offer her his golden scepter, a symbol of acquiescence to all the desires of the woman he loves.
We attach a guarantee of authenticity from our antique gallery to the sale of the painting. The canvas measures 133 x 100 cm, while the dimensions including its gilded and sandblasted Roman frame, contemporary to the painting, are 160 x 123 cm. The painting has been recently cleaned and relined by a trusted restorer.
We attach a guarantee of authenticity
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