Pier Francesco Mola (1612 – 1666) Lot n° 13

Esther Comforted by Ahasuerus, c. 1650-1655 Oil on canvas 90.5 x 103 cm This biblical episode, illustrated by the Genoese painter Orazio de Ferrari, depicts the Jewish queen Esther exhausted by three days of fasting, fainting in the arms of her husband, the Persian king Ahasuerus. She has come to implore him to cancel an edict condemning the death of every member of the Jewish people (Est. V, 1-2). Through the intercession of the Lord, the king, with a gesture of tenderness and concern, takes her in his arms and comforts her, encouraging her to confide her pains to him. Even the two young maids try to support her. From the background, two dark figures emerge. Perhaps one of the two characters is Mordecai, who raised Esther as a daughter, and who convinced the young woman to intervene on behalf of her people. This biblical story inspired the work of many painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries because it was strongly promoted by the Council of Trent. It seemed to prefigure the intercession of Mary in the Last Judgment, or as an interpretation of the struggle for freedom. But it is also a love story. Among all his concubines, Ahasuerus, in his palace of Susa, elects Esther his queen because "he loved her more than all other women and she found grace and favour in his eyes more than all the other virgins" (Est. II, 16-18). The subject, therefore, offers the opportunity to express a varied range of feelings and above all, to paint royal robes and jewels; often against the backdrop of a princely palace. Orazio de Ferrari, the pupil of Andrea Ansaldo (1584-1638), is one of the most famous artists of the Genoese Baroque. His style is characterised as "naturalistic baroque", affected with Caravaggesque realism and Flemish tradition, brought to Genoa by Anthon Van Dyck. The staging of the characters in this painting is of great theatrical impact and corresponds perfectly to the taste of the Baroque era; with convulsive actions and the pomp of rich costumes of the time, depicted in environments of great architectural magnificence that recalled those noble palaces of the Genoese. Another version of this subject exists from a private collection, reported by Piero Donati in 1997, which is larger (fig. 1) and which has some variations. The painting should be mentioned among the masterpieces of Orazio's maturity dating back to the 1650’s. Expertise written by Dr. Anna Orlando from 06.2021