Philip Galle (copy after)
Window with Scene from The Story of Esther1620s

Not on view

Vertical stained glass panel with grisaille narrative scene in a central circular medallion, amber gold ornamental borders, scrolling floral decoration, flanking herms, and a multi-line inscription cartouche below

Artist or Maker: Philip Galle (copy after)
Artist or Maker: Maerten van Heemskerck (after)
Title: Window with Scene from The Story of Esther
Place Made: Netherlands, possibly Haarlem
Date Made: 1620s
Medium: White glass, leaded; silver stain; two shades of vitreous paint; sanguine; translucent enamels
Dimensions: 50 x 27 1/2 in. (127 x 69.85 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 45.21.53
Classification: Architecture
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: The central panel of this window depicts a scene from the biblical Book of Esther in which the Persian king Ahasuerus gives his ring, a symbol of royal authority, to Haman, his chief adviser. After Haman issued a decree to kill all Jews in the kingdom, Queen Esther, who had concealed her Jewish identity from her husband, risked her life by revealing her faith, exposed the plot to the king, and thus saved her people from certain death.

The story of Esther was a favorite source of inspiration for Dutch artists. Her courage had particular meaning in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, since the Dutch Republic, a small Protestant nation, had recently fought for independence from the powerful Catholic empire of Spain. This design is a reversed version of a 1564 engraving by Philip Galle after a design by Maerten van Heemskerck, a Dutch artist who worked in the town of Haarlem for most of his career (see also 45.21.52).
Selected Bibliography: Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst the collector. Exh. Cat. New York: Abrams and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008.
Raguin, Virginia Chieffo. Stained Glass before 1700 in the Collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J.Paul Getty Museum. Vol. 1, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. London: Harvey Miller Publishers for American Corpus Vitrearum, Inc., 2024.

Philip Galle (copy after)
Window with Scene from The Story of Esther1620s

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Philip Galle (copy after)
Artist or Maker: Maerten van Heemskerck (after)
Title: Window with Scene from The Story of Esther
Place Made: Netherlands, possibly Haarlem
Date Made: 1620s
Medium: White glass, leaded; silver stain; two shades of vitreous paint; sanguine; translucent enamels
Dimensions: 50 x 27 1/2 in. (127 x 69.85 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 45.21.53
Classification: Architecture
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: The central panel of this window depicts a scene from the biblical Book of Esther in which the Persian king Ahasuerus gives his ring, a symbol of royal authority, to Haman, his chief adviser. After Haman issued a decree to kill all Jews in the kingdom, Queen Esther, who had concealed her Jewish identity from her husband, risked her life by revealing her faith, exposed the plot to the king, and thus saved her people from certain death.

The story of Esther was a favorite source of inspiration for Dutch artists. Her courage had particular meaning in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, since the Dutch Republic, a small Protestant nation, had recently fought for independence from the powerful Catholic empire of Spain. This design is a reversed version of a 1564 engraving by Philip Galle after a design by Maerten van Heemskerck, a Dutch artist who worked in the town of Haarlem for most of his career (see also 45.21.52).
Selected Bibliography: Levkoff, Mary L., ed. Hearst the collector. Exh. Cat. New York: Abrams and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008.
Raguin, Virginia Chieffo. Stained Glass before 1700 in the Collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J.Paul Getty Museum. Vol. 1, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. London: Harvey Miller Publishers for American Corpus Vitrearum, Inc., 2024.