Esther before Ahasuerus
- Artist: Peter Paul Rubens
- Date: 1620
- Medium: oil on panel
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the Esther before Ahasuerus by Peter Paul Rubens. These are freely painted sketches from 1620, created as preparatory studies for two large ceiling paintings that would later grace the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Antwerp. The perspective is deliberately low, giving us a view from below the ceiling, which explains the slightly exaggerated scale of the figures.
The scene draws from the Old Testament: a seated male ruler, Ahasuerus, engages in conversation with the beautiful female visitor, Esther. Rubens kept the composition consistent across both sketches, mirroring the dynamic found in Paolo Veronese’s Renaissance decorations that he had seen during his time in Venice. Those Veronese panels informed the regal posture and the sumptuous fabrics, a homage that Rubens adapted to his own Baroque style.
From these sketches his assistants produced the final, monumental canvases—part of a series of 39 large works that filled the nave. The completed paintings were finished in 1621, only to be lost a century later when lightning struck the church, setting it ablaze.
The medium is oil on panel, a choice that allowed Rubens to capture the rich colors and the delicate play of light on Esther’s hair and the king’s robes. Even as the originals no longer survive, these sketches give us a fascinating glimpse into Rubens’s creative process and the artistic dialogue between Northern Baroque and Italian Renaissance.
See it in person
Esther before Ahasuerus hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
