Jacopo del Sellaio (Florence, 1442–1493)
Esther before Ahasuerus
Florence, circa 1475–1480
Tempera on board, 44.8 × 42.9 × 3.5 cm
Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 2537
The complete cycle, comprising four additional panels (three now at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and one at the Louvre in Paris), depicts the story of the Book of Esther. Originally, these panels adorned two wedding chests, disassembled before June 2, 1781, when three fragments were offered to the Uffizi. The two remaining panels were sold on the French market: in 1899, Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild donated one to the Louvre, and the last was purchased at auction in Brussels in 1904 for the newly founded Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.
SR
