The Banquet of Ahasuerus

Somewhat disheveled, his eyes bleary from drink, King Ahasuerus leans heavily on his left forearm, spilling wine onto his lap from the goblet he holds. The scene comes from the biblical Book of Esther: after seven days of feasting, the drunken king asks one of his eunuchs to summon Queen Vashti, and her refusal angers him into dismissing her and choosing Esther in her place. Aert de Gelder, Rembrandt’s last and most devoted pupil, sets the characters against a neutral background and minimizes the action so that the focus falls on the exchange between the two figures: light from the left picks out the king’s flushed face, extravagant clothing and large frame, while the dimly lit eunuch — modestly dressed, small in stature — contrasts with the king’s excess. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.