{
"data": {
"id": 140152,
"accession_number": "1964.153",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman, c. 1668. Jan Steen (Dutch, 1626\u20131679). Oil on canvas; framed: 96.5 x 119.5 x 11 cm (38 x 47 1/16 x 4 5/16 in.); unframed: 70 x 93 cm (27 9/16 x 36 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1964.153",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman",
"creation_date": "c. 1668",
"creation_date_earliest": 1663,
"creation_date_latest": 1673,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Netherlands"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "P - Netherlandish-Dutch",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 96.5 x 119.5 x 11 cm (38 x 47 1/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 70 x 93 cm (27 9/16 x 36 5/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 0.965,
"height_inch": 38,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 1.195,
"width_inch": 47,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0625,
"depth": 0.11,
"depth_inch": 4,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.3125
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.7,
"height_inch": 27,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5625,
"width": 0.93,
"width_inch": 36,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 304723,
"title": "Year in Review (1964)",
"description": "Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).",
"opening_date": "1964-12-08T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 301805,
"title": "Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century",
"description": "Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973).",
"opening_date": "1973-07-10T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 443073,
"title": "Gods, Saints, and Heroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt",
"description": "Gods, Saints, and Heroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (November 2, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (February 16-April 19, 1981); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (May 18-July 19, 1981).",
"opening_date": "1980-11-02T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 335904,
"title": "Hollandse Meesters uit Ametrika (Great Dutch Paintings in America)",
"description": "Hollandse Meesters uit Ametrika (Great Dutch Paintings in America). Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands (co-organizer) (September 25, 1990-January 13, 1991); The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (co-organizer) (February 16-May 5, 1991).",
"opening_date": "1990-09-25T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 290545,
"title": "Jan Steen\u2019s Histories",
"description": "Jan Steen\u2019s Histories. Mauritshuis, Den Hague, Netherlands (organizer) (February 15-May 13, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2018-02-15T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 519649,
"title": "The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt",
"description": "The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt. The Jewish Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (March 7-August 10, 2025) https://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/book-of-esther-in-the-age-of-rembrandt; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC (September 20, 2025-March 8, 2026); Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA (August 6, 2026-January 18, 2027).",
"opening_date": "2025-03-07T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Leyden, Museum de Lakehal, 1926: \"Jan Steen,\" cat. no. 37.",
"opening_date": "1926-01-01T05:00:00Z"
},
{
"description": "Amsterdam, Rijkmuseum, 1929: \"Tentoonstelling van Oude Kunst,\" cat. no. 140.",
"opening_date": "1929-01-01T05:00:00Z"
},
{
"description": "Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 1939: \"Bijbelse Kunst,\" cat. no. 60 f.",
"opening_date": "1939-01-01T05:00:00Z"
},
{
"description": "Delft, Prinsenhof, 1952: \"Prisma der Bibelse Kunst,\" cat. no. 88, pl. 50.",
"opening_date": "1952-01-01T05:00:00Z"
},
{
"description": "Amsterdam, Douwes Brothers, 1955: \"Jubileum Tentoonstelling,\" cat. no. 59.",
"opening_date": "1955-01-01T05:00:00Z"
},
{
"description": "Tel-Aviv Museum, 1959: \"Holland's Golden Age,\" cat. no. 106.",
"opening_date": "1959-01-01T05:00:00Z"
},
{
"description": "Milwaukee Art Center, 1976: \"The Bible through Dutch Eyes,\" cat. no. 59, repr.",
"opening_date": "1976-01-01T05:00:00Z"
},
{
"description": "Amsterdam, Douwes Brothers, 1962: \"The Hundred Best Works of Jan Steen,\" cat. no. 7.",
"opening_date": "1962-01-01T05:00:00Z"
}
]
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "At the center of this biblical scene, Steen included elements of a typical Dutch still life: a Roemer glass, a half-peeled lemon, and a blue-and-white porcelain dish.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Esther, the wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, effectively concealed her Jewish identity until the prime minister Haman hatched a plot to annihilate the kingdom\u2019s Jews. To save her people Esther persuades the king (at the center) to rescind his order. He then turns against Haman, who slumps in his seat, aware of his sudden fall from power and his bleak future.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29419146"
],
"internet_archive": [
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},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Bredius, Abraham, Jan Steen (Amsterdam, 1927)",
"page_number": "p. 29, pl. 7",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Martin, Willem, \"Neues uber Jan Steen,\" Zeitschrift fur Bildende Kunst, LXI (1927-28)",
"page_number": "325",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Thieme, Ulrich, and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden K\u00fcnstler, XXXI (Leipzig, 1937)",
"page_number": "511",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Albert Heppner, \"The Popular Theater of the Rederijkers in the Work of Jan Steen,\" Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, III (1939-40)",
"page_number": "p. 42, pl. 4d",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings, and Miniatures in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham (Cambridge, 1952)",
"page_number": "p. 102",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Pigler, Andor. Barockthemen. Budapest, 1956.",
"page_number": "p. 203",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "van Braam, Fred A., ed., World Collectors Annuary, XII (1960)",
"page_number": "440, no. 4961",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Weltkunst, XXXII (April 1962)",
"page_number": "17",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "\"Notable Works of Art Now on the Market,\" Burlington Magazine, CVI (1964)",
"page_number": "303, color pl. I",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cRecent Acquisition Press Release,\u201d June 29, 1964, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr1256"
},
{
"citation": "Lurie, Ann Tzeutschler, \"Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman,\" CMA Bulletin, LII (1965)",
"page_number": "94-100, color illus. p. 93, and fig. 9",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 124",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n148"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 125",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n149"
},
{
"citation": "Kirschenbaum, Baruch D., The Religious and Historical Paintings of Jan Steen (New York, 1977)",
"page_number": "pp. 13, 48, 50, 66, 70, 78, 8o, 88, 119 cat. no. 19a, 252, and fig. 74",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 162",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n182"
},
{
"citation": "Handbook of The Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, 1978)",
"page_number": "illus. p. 162",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 274; Mentioned: p. 275",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Dempsey, James H. \u201cThe Annual Report for 1984.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 4 (July 1985): 242\u2013298.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 251",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159905"
},
{
"citation": "Marijnissen, Peter, De Zichtebaere werelt: Schilderk uit de Gouden Eeuw in Hollands oudste stad, (Zwolle:Waanders; Dordrechts Museum, 1992)",
"page_number": "p. 174",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Chapman, Perry, H., Wouter Th. Kloek, Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller, (Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1996)",
"page_number": "p. 244, fig. 3",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Westermann, Mari\u00ebt, The Amusements of Jan Steen (Zwolle, Waanders Publishers, 1997)",
"page_number": "no. 165, p. 285",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Wenley, Robert. Pride & Persecution: Jan Steen's Old Testament Scenes. Birmingham: The Barber Institute of Fine Arts; London: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2017.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 50, fig. 28",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Gulick, Rosalie van. \"Catalogue.\" In Jan Steen's Histories. Ariane van Suchtelen, ed., 114-121. Zwolle: Waanders Publishers; The Hague: Mauritshuis Foundation, 2018.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 115, 120-121, cat. 9",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Suchtelen, Ariane van. \"A Storyteller of Genius: Jan Steen and the Art of History Painting.\" In Jan Steen's Histories. Ariane van Suchtelen, ed., 11-31. Zwolle: Waanders Publishers; The Hague: Mauritshuis Foundation, 2018.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 18-19, 22, 29",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Westermann, Mariet. \"Steen's Great History Pageant.\" In Jan Steen's Histories. Ariane van Suchtelen, ed., 11-31. Zwolle: Waanders Publishers; The Hague: Mauritshuis Foundation, 2018.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 64",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Rapoport, Abigail, and Michele L. Frederick. The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt. New York: Jewish Museum, under the auspices of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 2025.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 94-95",
"url": ""
}
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"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
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"id": 2688,
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"updated_at": "2026-08-21 12:43:16.435000"
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