Esther's banquet, workshop of Frans Francken II, first third of the 17th century

Oil on copper on parquet wood panel.

36.2 cm X 45 cm
53.5 cm X 62 cm (framed)

Taking up the painting in the Louvre Museum deposited at the royal monastery of Brou (Bourg-en-Bresse), and that of the Bertrand Museum in Châteauroux, our painting (3rd version), presents the scene of Esther's banquet.

Like many paintings of this period, the main scene gives its name to the work, but the painting is teeming with details that relate other scenes from the story presented. Skilled in the construction of this type of painting, the Antwerp painters of this period do not leave unnecessary spaces in the painting and take advantage of each space to narrate different episodes of the story.

In the foreground, Esther has just finished the speech by which she confuses Haman who points at himself. On the left, in the foreground, Haman explains to Ahasuerus his plan to annihilate the Jewish people. In the scene above that of the banquet, Esther announces to her king and husband her Jewishness and asks him for the favor of pardoning the Jewish people. Finally, on the left in the distance, Haman is condemned and hanged.

Francken here creates scenes of strong intensity and surprising power by using intense and deep colors. The details are teeming and the luxury of a royal court shines through in the details of the fabrics, the goldwork presented, the dishes offered on the table. Each character is an actor in the painting and is skillfully staged.

Frans Francken the Younger, sometimes also called Frans Francken II, was born in Antwerp in 1581 and died in the same city on 6 May 1642. A Flemish painter from the Spanish Netherlands, he created altarpieces and furniture panels and acquired his reputation mainly through his small and delicate cabinet paintings on historical, religious, mythological or allegorical themes. He is the best known and most prolific member of this large family of artists. Frans Francken II played an important role in the development of Flemish art in the first half of the 17th century thanks to his innovations in many genres, including genre scenes and his introduction of new subjects. He was a frequent collaborator of the leading Antwerp painters of his time.

During the 16th century, the taste for "curiosities" spread among enlightened amateurs whose collections could be contained in a single piece of furniture or in larger rooms, gradually opened up for visitation and study. It was not until the following century that these collections appeared in paintings, sometimes serving as a backdrop for a history painting or an allegory. These "cabinets of curiosities" or "amateur" cabinets, set in luxurious bourgeois interiors, constitute a real sub-genre in Flemish and Dutch painting. Francken and many other famous painters participated in this boom. Owner of a prosperous workshop in Antwerp, he produced a large number of these small paintings.