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drama, Esther (1644), was written by Pierre Du Ryer and a
long epic poem of the same name (1673) by Jean Desmarets
de Saint-Sorlin, both in the austere religious manner of the
period. The major French literary treatment of the theme
was *Racine’s epic tragedy Esther (1689), written for presentation
at the Saint-Cyr girls’ school supervised by Madame
de Maintenon, the morganatic wife of Louis XIV, and first
performed with choruses by J.-B. Moreau. Esther herself, a
model of Christian womanly virtues, evidently represented
the sponsor, while Vasthi (Vashti) represented the king’s former
mistress, Madame de Montespan, heightening the political
implications of the play. Other 17th-century works on the
subject include Aman y Mardoqueo o la reina Ester, a play by
the Spanish New Christian Felipe *Godínez; the refugee Portuguese
Marrano João *Pinto Delgado’s Poema de la Reyna
Ester (Rouen, 1627), part of a volume dedicated to Cardinal
Richelieu; Mardochée Astruc’s Judeo-Provençal Tragediou de
la Reine Esther; and Isaac Cohen de *Lara’s Comedia famosa
de Aman y Mordochay (1699).
Interest in the theme was maintained during the 18th-
20th centuries, beginning with Manuel Joseph Martin’s La Soberbia
castigada. Historia … de Esther y Mardocheo (1781). A
Yiddish play, Esther, oder di belonte Tugend (1827, 18543), was
written by J. Herz, and Hebrew adaptations of Racine’s classic
drama made by S.J.L. *Rapoport (in She’erit Judah, 1827) and,
in complete form, by Meir Ha-Levi *Letteris (Shelom Esther,
1843). The virtues of the Jewish heroine were emphasized in
the Austrian dramatist Franz Grillparzer’s unfinished play Esther
(1848), and other treatments included J.A. Vaillant’s Romanian
Legenda lui Aman ṣi Mardoheu (1868), Joseph Shabbetai
Farḥi’s Italian Alegria di Purim (1875), and the U.S. writer
Frank C. Bliss’ verse drama Queen Esther (1881). Almost the
only biblical play to escape censorship in 19th-century England
was Esther the Royal Jewess: or the Death of Haman, a lavishly
produced melodrama by Elisabeth Polack, which was staged
in London in 1835. There have been numerous plays about
Esther from the early 20th century onward: Esther, princesse
d’Israël (1912) by André Dumas and S.C. Leconte; H. Pereira
*Mendes’ Esther and Harbonah (1917); Max *Brod’s Esther
(1918); John Masefield’s Esther (1922), a pastiche of Racine; and
other works of the same name by Felix *Braun (1925), Sammy
*Gronemann (1926), and the U.S. dramatist Sonia V. Daugherty
(1929). Three other modern treatments are Izak *Goller’s
fantasy A Purim-Night’s Dream (1931) and James Bridie’s What
Say They? (1939); and a rare biblical novel on the subject, Maria
Poggel-Degenhardt’s Koenigin Vasthi; Roman aus der Zeit
Esthers (1928). Most successful were the satiric Megilla-Lieder
of the Yiddish poet Itzik *Manger adapted for the stage
in Israel in 1965.
In art the Book of Esther is represented in the cycle of
paintings from the third-century synagogue at *Dura-Europos
and also in the ninth-century mural in the basilica of San
Clemente in Rome. The scenes depicted at Dura-Europos were
Esther and Ahasuerus enthroned and Mordecai riding in triumph
on a regal white horse. They could be seen clearly from
esther
the women’s benches, and it has been suggested that they were
placed there because women normally came to synagogue to
attend the reading of the Scroll of Esther which, according
to *Joshua bar Levi (Meg. 4a), they were obliged to hear. In
medieval Christian iconography, Esther was associated with
the cult of the Virgin Mary. Her intercession with Ahasuerus
on behalf of the Jews was interpreted as a prefiguration of the
Virgin’s mediation on behalf of mankind. After the Middle
Ages the story of Esther was treated in a less symbolic manner
and was used instead as a storehouse of picturesque episodes.
The story was sometimes presented in a narrative cycle
of varying length or in individual episodes. Examples of the
cycle form may be found on an arch over the north portal of
the Chartres Cathedral (13th century), a 17th-century Belgian
tapestry in the cathedral of Saragosa, and an 18th-century set
of Gobelin tapestries. Popular single subjects were the toilet
of Esther, the triumph of Mordecai, and the punishment of
Haman. Renaissance artists such as Botticelli, Filippino Lippi,
Mantegna, Tintoretto, and Paolo Veronese painted subjects
from the Book of Esther. Botticelli (or Filippino Lippi) decorated
two marriage-caskets (1428) with scenes from the biblical
story, including the long misinterpreted figure La Derelitta,
now supposed to represent Mordecai lamenting before
the palace at Shushan. The Venetian painters Tintoretto and
Veronese treated the Esther story as an occasion for pomp and
pageantry, Tintoretto painting the Swooning of Esther (1545), a
subject later treated by Poussin. The Book of Esther was also
popular with 17th-century artists in the Netherlands. Rubens
and Jan Steen painted Esther Before Ahasuerus, and Jan Steen
also executed a spirited, almost farcical, Wrath of Ahasuerus
(1660). Rembrandt painted Mordecai pleading with Esther
(1655), Ahasuerus and Haman at Esther’s Feast (1660), and
Haman in Disgrace (1660). A charming Toilet of Esther was
executed by Théodore Chassériau in 1841.
An early musical treatment of the subject is a 14th-century
motet for three voices, Quoniam novi probatur, in which Haman,
or someone whose fate he symbolizes, voices his complaint
(see C. Parrish, The Notation of Mediaeval Music (1957),
138–40). Palestrina wrote a five-voiced motet, Quid habes
Hester? (publ. 1575), the text of which is the dialogue between
Esther and Ahasuerus in the apocryphal additions to Esther
(15:9–14). From the late 17th century onward the Esther story
attracted the attention of many serious composers. Some 17th-
and early 18th-century works were A. Stradella’s oratorio Ester,
liberatrice dell’ popolo ebreo (c. 1670); M.-A. Charpentier’s
quasi-oratorio Historia Esther (date unknown); G. Legrenzi’s
oratorio Gli sponsali d’Ester (1676); J.-B. Moreau’s choruses
for Racine’s Esther; A. Lotti’s oratorio L ’umilità coronata in
Esther (1712); and A. Caldara’s oratorio Ester (1723). Handel’s
masque Haman and Mordecai, with a text by John Arbuthnot
and (probably) Alexander Pope based on Racine’s drama, was
first performed at the Duke of Chandos’ palace near Edgware
in 1720, and was Handel’s first English composition in oratorio
form. Worked into a full oratorio 12 years later, with additional
words by Samuel Humphreys, it had a triumphant recep-
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