Focus on The Toilette of Esther and discuss the Narrative.
The subject derives from the Book of Esther (2:8-9, 15), in which King Ahasuerus, having renounced his wife Vashti, seeks a new queen. Esther, a woman of great beauty, finds favor with Hegai, the eunuch responsible for preparing women for presentation to the king. Upon seeing Esther, Ahasuerus chooses her as his wife. She later reveals that she is Jewish, and intercedes with the king in order to spare the lives of the empire's Jews.
While choosing a biblical theme as a subject, it is likely that Chassériau drew upon more recent literary sources for inspiration. The play Esther, produced by Jean Racine in 1689, offers a more chaste version of Esther's seduction, while describing the artifice employed by her rivals for the king's attention. The exoticism of the painting is closer to an 1817 poem by Alfred de Vigny entitled Le Bain d'une dame romaine, which includes the description:A slave from Egypt, her skin glistening and black,
Presents her, kneeling, with the pure steel of the mirror,
To tie up her hair, a virgin from Greece,
In Isis's compass joins her two braids....and is reminiscent also of Les Orientales by Victor Hugo:Have I not, for you, lovely Jewess,
Sufficiently emptied my seraglio?The episode had rarely been painted before. Only two previous versions are known: a 17th-century painting by Aert de Gelder, and an 18th-century work by Jean-Francois de Troy. Given the dearth of pictorial illustrations of the story, Chassériau would have looked to paintings of women at their toilette, including depictions of Venus, of which there were more numerous examples.
Hegai Ahasuerus Esther Aert de Gelder Jean-Francois de Troy King Ahasuerus Les Orientales Book of Esther Victor Hugo Jean Racine Vashti Alfred de Vigny