(Venice 1709–1787)
Esther before Ahasuerus,
oil on canvas, 159 x 224 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection;
thence by descent to the present owner

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no. 72900 (as Anonymous Venetian, 18th Century).

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for endorsing the attribution after examination of the present painting in the original. He suggests a date of execution around 1754.

The present large-scale painting is a recent addition to the oeuvre of the Venetian painter Francesco Zugno. Ashaver, accompanied by his entourage of soldiers and pages, appears on the right on a raised throne in front of a Greek-inspired palace architecture. Iconographically and compositionally the centre of the work is occupied by Esther, who has fainted. The figures are dressed in elegant robes, modelled with quick brushstrokes. The way the light is reflected on the various textures and the faces with their long, pointed noses, modelled with reddish shadows, are typical of Zugno. Tiepolo’s influence on the artist is particularly evident in the two male figures in the right background, which are reminiscent of his character heads.

Little is known about the life and training of Francesco Zugno. After an early artistic education at the Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Venice, he entered the workshop of Giambattista Tiepolo around 1730. As a pupil and collaborator, he assisted Tiepolo with several commissions between 1730 and 1737, amongst them the frescoes for the Palazzo Labia, Venice. The Venetian painter Alessandro Longhi, who knew him well, described him as a person who tended towards melancholy and portrayed the solitary genius with great thoughts. (see A. Longhi, Compendio delle Vite de Pittori Veneziani, Venice 1762, p. 45).