Esther, circa 1869 by Jean-François Portaels ::

Details

Alternative title

Esther allant implorer auprès d'Assuérus la grâce de son peuple

Date

circa 1869

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on canvas

Dimensions

139.5 x 110.0 cm stretcher; 137.3 x 108.2 cm sight; 175.2 x 145.8 x 11.5 cm frame

Signature & date

Signed l.r., black oil "J. Portaels". Not dated.

Credit

Purchased 1884

Location

South Building, ground level, Grand Courts

Accession number

5721

Copyright

Reproduction requests

Artist information

Jean-François Portaels

Works in the collection

1

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About

Jean-François Portaels or Jan Portaels was a Belgian painter of genre scenes, biblical stories, landscapes, portraits and orientalist subjects. He was also a teacher and director of the Academy of Fine Arts of Ghent and the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He is regarded as the founder of the Belgian Orientalist school. He was praised in his time as the premier painter of 'everyday elegance and feminine grace'. Through his art, teaching and his leadership of the Académie Royale in Brussels he exerted an important influence on the next generation of Belgian artists, including his pupil Théo van Rysselberghe.
While his main focus was on Orientalist art and portraiture, Portaels was in demand as a painter of biblical scenes and his works can still be found in many churches in Belgium such as in the Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in Brussels and the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Goede Hoop Church in Vilvoorde.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Portaels)

Here Portaels paints one of the heroines of the Hebrew Bible, Esther. She was the beautiful Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). On learning of her husband's plans to annihilate the Jews throughout his empire - a massacre plotted by the king’s chief minister, Haman - Esther and her cousin Mordecai persuade Ahasuerus to retract the order. On the day planned for the annihilation, instead the Jews destroyed their enemies. The date of the massacre was to have been decided by casting lots ('purim'), which is said to have given the name to the annual celebration of Purim. The story is set out in the Book of Esther, in the third section of the Judaic canon known as the Ketuvim or “Writings” in the Hebrew Bible, and in the Christian Old Testament.

Exhibition history

Shown in 5 exhibitions

Royal Academy of Arts, 1869, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1869–1869
Salon and Academie: the charm of tradition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1984–May 1985
Elizabeth Gertsakis: Beyond Missolonghi, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Parkville, 10 Aug 1994–03 Sep 1994

Elizabeth Gertsakis: Beyond Missolonghi, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 May 1996–02 Jun 1996
A fine possession: jewellery and identity, Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo, 24 Sep 2014–20 Jun 2016
Grand Courts collection rehang, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 2021–2023

Bibliography

Referenced in 21 publications

Anon., Sydney Morning Herald, no 15348, 'Pictures in Sydney – Figure painting at the Art Gallery', Sydney, 04 Jun 1887, p 6.
Anon., The Times, no 26441, ‘Exhibition of the Royal Academy: Fourth article’, London, 19 May 1869, p 5.
Anon., Sydney Morning Herald, no 14381, 'Fine arts ', Sydney, 30 Apr 1884, p 8.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales annual report 2014–15, Sydney, 2015, p 31.
Patricia Crawford, History and legend in some selected paintings at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1980, p 11, illus p 11.
Elizabeth Gertsakis, Beyond Missolonghi, Melbourne, 1994, illus p 5.
Henry King and Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Photographs of pictures in the Art Gallery of New South Wales [picture album], [1884], illus pl 64a.
George Redford, Art sales. A history of sales of pictures and other works of art. In two volumes. Vol II, London, 1888, p 207. 'Esther before Ahasuerus' bt in.
Colin McKay Smith, Daily Telegraph, ‘The National Art Gallery of New South Wales’, Sydney, 13 Apr 1897.
Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales: Minutes 31.8.1880-4.8.1891, Sydney, 1880-1891, pp 192–93 (5 May 1884), p 195 (12 May 1884).
Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales: Minutes 2.6.1898-13.3.1903, Sydney, 1898-1903, p 234 (3 Apr 1900), p 272 (20 July 1900), p 289 (21 Sep 1900), p 323 (18 Jan 1901).
R St John Tyrwhitt, The contemporary review, vol 11, ‘Pictures of the year’, London, May 1869, pp 355–74: p 362.
Anna Waldmann, Renée Free and Nicholas Draffin, Salon and Académie: the charm of tradition: a catalogue of nineteenth-century European salon works, Sydney, 1984, pp [5], [42–43], illus p [43].
The Art Journal, 'Art notes', London, Apr 1884, pp 126–27: p 127.
National Art Gallery of NSW: illustrated catalogue, Sydney, 1917, p 14, no 12.
The Art Journal, 'Selected pictures', London, Mar 1871, pp 72–73: p 72.
The Art Journal, ‘The Royal Academy – The one hundred and first exhibition’, London, Jun 1869, pp 161–72: p 168.
National Art Gallery of NSW: illustrated catalogue, Sydney, 1906, p 7, no 12.
National Art Gallery of NSW: illustrated catalogue, Sydney, 1924, p 30, no 79.
The exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, MDCCCLXIX, the one hundred and first, London, 1869, p 15, no 174.
Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, with illustrations, drawn by E L Montefiore, Esq, published by sanction of the Trustees, Sydney, 1884, p 33, no 96, illus (sketch by EL Montefiore) p 33.

Provenance

Messrs Wallis & Sons, French Gallery, London, London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW from Messrs Wallis & Sons, French Gallery 1884