The painting belongs to a series inspired by the Old Testament book of Esther and shows her kinsman Mordecai riding triumphantly through the streets of Susa, led by his enemy Haman.
In 1736 de Troy undertook seven enormous cartoons representing the story of Esther for the Gobelin tapestry works. The final cartoon for The Triumph of Mordecai (Musée du Louvre, Paris) was completed in Rome, probably in 1739, and the first tapestry was woven between 1741 and 1744. The present work is a preliminary sketch.
Credit: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1906
c. 1736
Oil on canvas
86.0 x 150.2cm
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection