Esther and Mordecai before King Ahasuerus (Esther 8:1- 12)

Giovanni de' Vecchi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Of Tuscan origins, Giovanni de’ Vecchi spent most of his career in Rome, where he was active as a fresco painter on some of the city’s most prestigious commissions. This detailed sheet, executed in a painterly, animated style in pen and ink with delicate washes, has been identified as a scene from the Book of Esther. King Ahasuerus presents to Mordecai a signet ring (here enlarged by the artist for emphasis) that once belonged to the evil Haman as Queen Esther stands at right. The work is perhaps a modello (demonstration drawing) for a fresco, though no related final work exists.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art