Jan Steen's Old Testament paintings

 

Jan Steen, The Wrath of Ahasuerus, c1668-70, Barber Institute (detail)

Does an era have a defining characteristic, a way of thinking and feeling that is so typical of its time that it becomes difficult to escape? Perhaps The Netherlands in the 17th century, the so-called Dutch Golden Age, is an example. We are so familiar with genre painting from this period that we expect it everywhere we look, so familiar, in fact, that an intense artist like Rembrandt is a surprise, partly because he is such a contrast with his peers.

The spirit of the age came to mind when looking at a Jan Steen painting. In 2018, The Barber Institute had a fascinating exhibition focusing on just one work: Jan Steen’s The Wrath of Ahasuerus (c1668-70). Such a focus is a lovely rarity, and I don’t know why other institutions don’t follow the idea (I seem to remember the Caen Beaux Arts did something similar). I didn’t get to see the exhibition, but I noticed the catalogue in a second-hand collection, and read all of its 84 pages.

The painting relates to the story of Ahasuerus, in the Book of Esther, an Old Testament king of the Persians. Ahasuerus is informed of this plot by his wife Esther. She had been adopted and brought up by a Jewish court official, Mordecai. When Mordecai refused to pay reverence to Hamam, in retaliation, Hamam decided to kill all the Jews in the kingdom.

The painting shows the banquet at which Esther reveals she is Jewish, and the plot to kill all the Jews. Dramatically, Ahasuerus switches the intended execution victim from Mordecai to Hamam.

Why is this painting of interest? For two reasons. First, it represents an atypical subject for Steen. Secondly, it is an example of the moral tales from history so common in Western art; the picture that tells an improving story. 

Steen the painter

I am familiar with Steen for his detailed and lavish costumes and settings, typically of witty and irreverent moments in domestic Dutch life, often with messages concealed in the objects. His paintings usually stand out in galleries of Dutch art by the colourful details such as the rich tablecloths. This painting is unusual, in that it has all these details, as well as a sweet little dog, but it is a historical tale. Which is it, a genre piece or a history painting? Or, as with Veronese, could it be both? You can’t help feeling it works either as one or the other, but in this case, with an impending mass killing only narrowly averted, you feel the dog does not quite give the right message.

As the catalogue states, Steen’s figures are not classical, and Ahasuerus has a stage-villain look about him. So too does the cowering  Hamam. There is a lovely baroque sense of dramatic movement, although the figures tend to exist in isolation of each other, rather than (as with Guercino) being integrated by their movement. Nonetheless, the painting gives a powerful sense that this is a dramatic moment, a moment of change.

 

The context of the painting

Who was it painted for? The catalogue can only guess that it was painted for a Jewish collector, and presumably the purchaser chose this  subject. Indeed, it seems (from the catalogue) there were Sephardic Jews in Amsterdam during the 17thh century, who collected historical paintings, even paintings with Catholic subjects,  to my surprise. The enduring interest in the story of Esther is primarily because it was the origin of the festival of Purim.

How historical is this painting?  

What about the relation of the subject to history? “Scholars agree” to identify Ahasuerus with Xerxes I, king of Persia, described in Herodotus as “fickle and hot-tempered”. So is the purpose of this Biblical story the same as the episode in Herodotus, to provide a little moral story for our edification? Whatever the case, neither the story of Xerxes by Herodotus nor the Biblical episode has any basis in historical fact.   According to Robin Lane Fox’s criteria, neither is a primary source, nor based on a primary source.

So we should judge the story as a fairy tale. Was it inspiring to have such a tale in our living room? Did we feel improved by  seeing how close the Jewish community came to total destruction, saved at the last moment by a ruler with little judgement?   

What do the art historians think?

The final essay in the catalogue “The Critical Fortune of Steen’s OT Paintings” describes how the critics universally dismissed his historical works as lacking decorum. The author’s response is that the sales prices for these works has always remained high: “His biblical painting have realised high prices …while sometimes a discredited part of his oeuvre, Steen’s OT scenes deserve their place in the limelight”. That’s not much of a defence.

What do I think?

Genre painting was, and still is, in my opinion, rated lower than other kinds of painting. This is unfair, because its best practitioners, of whom Steen is an example, could paint well. The paradox of Steen is that he paints scenes of disarray and excess with great care and attention to detail; he is a painter who always wants to include something happening in every corner. However, when commissioned to create a historical work, he cannot drop this style; in this sense, he is a prisoner of the spirit of the age. Just look at that dog, jumping up. If I owned this work, I’d remember the dog, not the moral.