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''The Toilette of Esther'' or ''Esther Preparing to be Presented to King Ahasuerus'', is an 1841 oil-on-canvas painting by Théodore Chassériau. The painting depicts a moment from the scriptural Book of Esther, when Esther prepared to meet King Ahasuerus, ruler of Persia, who subsequently took her as his wife. The painting is in the Musée du Louvre. Vincent Pomarède of the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon has described it as "one of the most famous (paintings) in the Louvre".〔Guégan 145〕 ==Narrative== The subject derives from the Book of Esther (2:8-9, 15), in which King Ahasuerus, having renounced his wife Vashti, seeks a new queen. Esther, a woman of great beauty, finds favor with Hegai, the eunuch responsible for preparing women for presentation to the king. Upon seeing Esther, Ahasuerus chooses her as his wife. She later reveals that she is Jewish, and intercedes with the king in order to spare the lives of the empire's Jews. While choosing a biblical theme as a subject, it is likely that Chassériau drew upon more recent literary sources for inspiration. The play ''Esther'', produced by Jean Racine in 1689, offers a more chaste version of Esther's seduction, while describing the artifice employed by her rivals for the king's attention.〔Guégan 142〕 The exoticism of the painting is closer to an 1817 poem by Alfred de Vigny entitled ''Le Bain d'une dame romaine'', which includes the description: :A slave from Egypt, her skin glistening and black, :Presents her, kneeling, with the pure steel of the mirror, :To tie up her hair, a virgin from Greece, :In Isis's compass joins her two braids....〔Guégan 142〕 and is reminiscent also of ''Les Orientales'' by Victor Hugo: :Have I not, for you, lovely Jewess, :Sufficiently emptied my seraglio?〔Guégan 142〕 The episode had rarely been painted before. Only two previous versions are known: a 17th-century painting by Aert de Gelder, and an 18th-century work by Jean-Francois de Troy.〔Guégan 145〕 Given the dearth of pictorial illustrations of the story, Chassériau would have looked to paintings of women at their toilette, including depictions of Venus, of which there were more numerous examples.〔Guégan 145〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Toilette of Esther」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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