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Esther's name,
Adassa's babylonian pseudonyme,
radiates from the ancient Persian
because it is inseparable from a message of hope:
courage precedes sex
and core
precedes race.
That why
the eponymous book
was a source of comfort whenever Jews were
persecuted;
widely diffused in the Middle Ages and under Nazism;
it is logically despised
by all antisemitics
first and foremost
Luther
and Hitler.
this book
tells the story,
true or imagined,
of un orphan Jewish
born in Suse,
land deportation
since the destruction of the Temple by Nabucco;
she became queen of Persia without revealing her foreign origins;
she is informed of a genocidary decree,
enacted by Haman,
Assuerus' king's courtier, favorite
and great chamberlain;
during a feast
she lost consciousness before revealing her identity,
accusing her enemy
and obtaining the revocation of the decree
and freedom
for the Jews of the empire.
This story
inspired painters.
from Quattrocento up to 20th century representations are numerous,
includind
the baroque and classical periods
where the painting of History and the dramatic sensitivity was exploding
Many of these painters
prefer the representation
of her crowning
of feast
and of Esther's fainding
to the detriment of her courage
undoubtedly
less spectacular.
but far from any grandiloquence
and far from any melodramatics,
we retain these rare portraits of courageous woman
because they reveal
the Esther's personality
proud,
sure of herself
and autonomous.
These character traits
are especially visible on the fresco of Andrea del Castagno
unfortunately reduced in overdoor
before being preserved at the Uffici (in Florence);
originally, it belonged to the series
of famous men and women
who decorated
the loggia of villa Carducci
in Florence.
Halfway
between painting and sculpture
Andrea represents
Freedom in majesty
serious face, given air
and monumental posture
make think of the nobility of the characters of Masaccio;
as for vigorous drawing
with emphasized contours
it gives to the queen a stature
worthy of Donatello.
This Esther of the Quattrocento
is
as the founder
of the diaspora,
she incarnates
the dignity
of the exiled Jew
and also
the severe Humanism
of Florence.
The Esther of Rembrandt
is more radiant than triumphant
she appears in the scene of the banquet, all into clearly-obscure,
of which sobriety
(three guests around rare utensils)
competes by the richness of materials
(red-brown glaze and gold)
her posture, slightly forward leaning bust and lowered eyes
seems to mime the tender with the king
wanted by the law Persian
but the dazzling light which emanates from Esther
shows that she controls the situation:
she imagined a trap,
an invitation during which Assuerus will owe retract
by breaking the Aman's decree
and by condemning him
to death.
For the Flemish Master
Esther thus symbolizes
the trick,
instrument of female power,
and also
the integrated Jew,
like the Marrane community of Amsterdam,
from which all the members are ful citizens
contrary to the wandering Jews of Europe.
Chagall
naive and seeing like a child
or like a poet,
gives a very personal interpretation
of Esther:
he sees her like a giantess
with a simplified face;
the most powerful woman
of the world, able to
overcome religious conflicts.
Indeed,
while asserting her Jewish identity,
Esther
speaks an universal language:
Tolerance
and Equality for all;
she is more effective
than the struck
rabbi
foreground.
This lithography,
with gouache,
was made in 1960;
it prolongs the commission by Ambroise Vollard
to illustrate the Bible,
which goes back to the Thirties.
But it takes another significance
after the Shoah,
it once again circulantes
the message of the Book of Esther
Hope and Fraternity
for all the those who are pacifists.
It gives again crowned
in the world,
devastated
by the Second World War,
and it tries to reconcile the Religions.
Thus,
the village at the background,
resembles less to
the schtetel of the origins
than to houses grouped around a church.
These three images
celebrate Esther
like an oecumenical ***,
queen
and holy,
brilliant and
hidden