HUGUES MERLE | QUEEN ESTHER
Lot Closed
June 11, 04:15 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
HUGUES MERLE
French
1823 - 1881
QUEEN ESTHER
signed Hugues Merle and dated 1875 (upper left)
oil on canvas laid down on Masonite
canvas: 25⅞ by 21½ in.; 65.7 by 54.6 cm
framed: 31⅛ by 26¾ in.; 79 by 68 cm
Frank Martinek, Tucson, Arizona (acquired in Chicago circa 1940)
Thence by descent to the present owner
Hugues Merle has often been compared to his contemporary and possible rival William Bouguereau because of his meticulous and highly finished Academic style. Merle sought inspiration in mythology, literature and religion, and for the present lot he chose Esther, the heroine of the Old Testament, as his subject. This work appears to be related to a larger composition entitled Esther (1875), previously in the Percy A. Rockefeller collection, sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, in 1938 but since untraced, in which she is flanked by King Ahasuerus and an attendant. Merle is recognized for his psychologically charged compositions, and Queen Esther is no exception. The anguish over her decision can be sensed in her eyes as she debates the decision to break court etiquette and risk her life to plead for the Jewish people before her husband, the Persian king.