Esther and Mordecai

Niederländische Malerei 1540–1623, 1616

A man and woman, both with light skin, stand near a column under a pointed arch in a darkened, stone church in this vertical painting. To our right, the pair is lit only by the candle the man holds in his left hand. He stands with his back to us, and his face, almost in profile, is mostly lost in shadow. He has a pronounced bulbous, hooked nose, and his full lower lip projects past his beard. His tall cap is split down the sides, and he wears a red cloak lined with white fur. He leans toward the woman and holds her left hand in his right, closer to us. The candlelight falls on her pale, rounded face. Her blond hair is pulled up in a knot on the top of her head. Her eyes are cast down under arched brows, and she has full, pink lips. Her dress has a forest-green bodice with a flaring, starched, white, lace-edged collar and rose-pink sleeves with lace cuffs. The dress has buttons down the front of the bodice and falls open over a butter-yellow under-skirt. The window to our left, opposite the pair, is dark, and the church and vaults beyond the archway under which they stand are deeply shadowed. A dark, rectangular void seems to be carved into the tiled, stone floor near their feet, close to us. The artist signed and dated the work as if he had carved his name into the floor just beyond the void: “H.V.S. 1616.”
Artista
Niederländische Malerei 1540–1623
Fecha
1616
Tipo
Pintura
Técnica
Óleo sobre tabla
Medidas
37 × 23,7 cm
Colección
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licencia
Dominio público, CC0

Descripción de la imagen

A man and woman, both with light skin, stand near a column under a pointed arch in a darkened, stone church in this vertical painting. To our right, the pair is lit only by the candle the man holds in his left hand. He stands with his back to us, and his face, almost in profile, is mostly lost in shadow. He has a pronounced bulbous, hooked nose, and his full lower lip projects past his beard. His tall cap is split down the sides, and he wears a red cloak lined with white fur. He leans toward the woman and holds her left hand in his right, closer to us. The candlelight falls on her pale, rounded face. Her blond hair is pulled up in a knot on the top of her head. Her eyes are cast down under arched brows, and she has full, pink lips. Her dress has a forest-green bodice with a flaring, starched, white, lace-edged collar and rose-pink sleeves with lace cuffs. The dress has buttons down the front of the bodice and falls open over a butter-yellow under-skirt. The window to our left, opposite the pair, is dark, and the church and vaults beyond the archway under which they stand are deeply shadowed. A dark, rectangular void seems to be carved into the tiled, stone floor near their feet, close to us. The artist signed and dated the work as if he had carved his name into the floor just beyond the void: “H.V.S. 1616.”

Niederländische Malerei 1540–1623