ELLEN KONOWITZ

Star A The of Persia: painted-glass window of before from the circle of Dirk Vellert

Small-scale painted-glass windows such as the pair in Cleveland representing RJ- ther before Ahasuerus and the Judgment oj Solomon were produced in increasing num- bers during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, not to fill large expanses in church walls but to be inserted into more intimate spaces in buildings such as town halls and wealthy homes (Cleveland Museum of Art, figs. i,z)I The Cleveland windows have been mentioned recently by Hugo van der Velden in the context of Netherlandish town hall decoration, but questions remain concerning their sub- ject and style.2 In this paper, two aspects of the Cleveland windows will be addressed. The repre- sentation of Esther merits closer attention than it has yet been given: a background scene is here re-identified as a rarely illustrated moment in the biblical narrative that underscores Esther's own role in the deliverance of her people. Furthermore, the style of both windows will be reconsidered. The panels have been included in the older literature on Lucas van Leyden as from this Dutch artist's circle, but sup- port will be given for K. G. Boon's suggestion that they are more plausibly con- nected with artistic production in Antwerp. The questions of subject and style in- tersect at a heretofore undiscussed motif of a golden five-pointed star placed in a shield mounted in the architectural decoration at the upper left of the Esther panel. This star can be read on multiple levels: it refers to Esther herself whose name in Persian means 'star', and also to the Virgin Mary, the 'stella maris', for whom Es- ther, as an intercessor, is a standard Old Testament type. The star also serves as a reference to the glass painter from whose workshop the designs are here suggested to have come: Dirk Vellert, whose monogram featured his initials flanking a five- pointed star.

The story of Esther was illustrated frequently in the sixteenth century in various media, including panel painting, stained glass, and prints. Esther appearing before Ahasuerus is the most commonly represented episode in the story, as found, for instance, in Lucas van Leyden's well-known engraving dated ISIB (fig- 3). Esther, a Jewish woman, was chosen by the Persian king Ahasuerus to be his queen be- cause of her exceptional beauty. Esther's cousin Mordecai advised her to conceal her Jewish identity, but when he learned that the king's chief minister was plotting to massacre all the Jews in Persia, Mordecai told Esther that she had no choice but to intervene. Although it was forbidden - and even punishable by death - for anyone, including the queen, to appear unsolicited before the king, Esther courageously entered the royal chamber. At this climactic moment, Ahasuerus ex- tended his golden scepter to signify that he accepted her presence. In the Cleveland panel, Esther kneels, lowers her head, and folds her hands submissively across her chest as the king touches the tip of his scepter to her head (fig. i). Granted an audi-

105 I 2 Circleof DirkVellert, Erther before A basuerus,painted-glass window, Circleof DirkVellert, The Judgment of Solomon,painted-glass window, 7°1 x 470 701x mm.,Cleveland Museum of Art. mm.,Cleveland Museum of Art.

ence with the king, Esther proceeded to invite him and Haman to a banquet where she exposed Haman as a villain whose scheme was to annihilate her people and herself. Ahasuerus ultimately spared the Jews, and ordered that Haman be hung on the very gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai. In the right back- ground of the window, Haman is hanged in an expansive landscape filled with crowds of observers. The hanging of Haman is typically included in illustrated cy- cles of Esther. Much more unusual, however, is the scene at the left background of the window (fig. 4). In a room visible through an archway, a figure lics in a curtained bed while another kneels by the side of the bed. A third figure walks into the room from a doorway at the left. Walter Gibson described this vignette as the rarely illustrated moment when Ahasuerus, troubled by sleeplessness, has the royal chronicles read to him; the king learns from these records that earlier, Mordecai had foiled a plot against the throne, and the king resolves to reward him (Esther 6).3 The identification of this image as the reading of the chronicles leaves some key elements unexplained, however: The figure in the bed appears to be not the king but a woman with long, loose hair, and the man walking through the door holds a scepter and wears a beard and a yellow robe as does the king in the foreground. The scene more closely recalls a later moment in the narrative, taking place at the conclusion of Esther's banquet, after she has denounced Haman and revealed her own identity. The king leaves the banquet and Haman, now alone with Esther, falls on her couch and begs her for his life:

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