Esther and Ahasuerus

Francesco Maria Raineri, known as Schivenoglia
(Schivenoglia, Mantua 1678-1758)

Esther and Ahasuerus

oil painting on canvas
Size: 52x137 cm

Work exhibited during the exhibition dedicated to the homonymous painter:
“Francesco Maria Raineri - Lo Schivenoglia 1676-1758, works from private collections”
and published in the catalogue, page 13.


Esther is the daughter of Abicàil of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the two tribes that made up the Kingdom of Judah before its destruction by the Babylonians and the deportation, in 597, of the kingdom's elite to the provinces of the Persian empire.
On the death of her parents she is adopted by her cousin Mordecai who occupies an administrative function in the royal palace in Susa. Having heard that King Ahasuerus is looking for a new bride, Mordecai has his cousin Esther take part in the selections. Esther is chosen and becomes the wife of Ahasuerus.
When the prime minister Haman decides to exterminate all the Jews in the kingdom, Mordecai, who has always watched over Esther, urges her to present herself to the king to intercede on behalf of her fellow countrymen. Although it was forbidden on pain of death to enter the king without being summoned, after a three-day fast Esther appeared before the king to ask him the favor of accepting his invitation to supper with Haman.
During supper she invites them again and during the second banquet she informs the king that she is a Jew and that Haman has decreed the extermination of all the Jews in the kingdom.
She then obtains from the king the right for the Jews to defend themselves on the day they were to be exterminated.
Our painting represents the moment in which Esther addresses King Assuero.

Francesco Maria Raineri
Fifth of seven children, four boys and three girls, born to Laura Tomirotti and Angelo Raineri, both wealthy, he was orphaned of both parents when young (his mother died in 1681 and his father in 1694). For this reason, it is very probable that Raineri was sent to education in Mantua at a religious college or boarding school where, in addition to the normal teaching of reading and writing and arithmetic, he also learned a taste for art, given that in that time still in the city of Mantua there were notable masterpieces scattered among the Gonzaga palace, the Te, the patrician houses, the churches.
Known as "Lo Schivenoglia", he was a pupil of Giovanni Canti from whom he learned the technique of a painting spread quickly with rapid and decisive brushstrokes. He far surpassed the master and reached sublime levels thanks to his inventive depth, originality and pictorial flair, drawing ability, the novelty of his programmed asymmetry which leads to an innovation of aesthetics and composition space of the canvases.
He collaborated on canvases and frescoes with Bazzani (1690-1769), also a pupil of Canti.
He painted battles, mythological scenes, portraits, sacred figures, religious scenes and landscapes. He has been defined as the "Surrealist of the Mantuan eighteenth century". He related to both Lombard and Emilian painting. He held a school of painting.
He was appointed first director of the Mantua Academy of Fine Arts (also called Teresiana) in 1753. The Academy was founded by Giovanni Cadioli (painter) in 1752 after the authorization of Maria Theresa of Austria. To Giovanni Cadioli, preparer of the canvases of the paintings and painter, and to Antonio Bonoris, painter, he bequeathed (as per his will) all his studio of him.