Artaxerxes, Haman and Esther

The painting "Artaxerxes, Haman and Esther" is a late masterpiece by Rembrandt. Wife of the Persian king Artaxerxes, a Jewish woman called Esther, risked her life to show her husband how cunning vizir Haman had been intending to exterminate her people. Rembrandt, ever the great psychologist, was less interested in intricately capturing particular details.

The picture depicts three figures, and the feast seems referred to almost as an afterthought. The artist selects the moment when events culminate, Esther has just revealed Haman's true nature. She is frozen - waiting for a response. Artaxerxes seems shaken with doubt, sorrow, and anger. Haman is pictured fatally shrouded in semi-darkness. The figures are focused inward on themselves, immersed in their own thoughts, but their lives are linked by invisible threads, and this meeting has decided their fate. For now they are still united by the feast table, on which stands a round dish. It contains apples and grapes - symbols of sin and redemption, which hint at the outcome of events. Haman has sinned and will have to redeem himself.

Compositionally, Artaxerxes and Esther are positioned close together - which also indicates the likely outcome. But the idea and mood of this piece is clearly defined - chiefly by the use of light. The darkness has almost swallowed the treacherous vizir, and a shadow has fallen across Artaxerxes' face. Only the figure of the queen is bathed in light - representing justice.

Rembrandt's use of light and shade is fundamental to his approach to art. The bright light and all-encompassing darkness represent the struggle between good and evil, bravery and cowardice, spiritual strength and doubt. Reflecting the spiritual origins and carrier of ethical thought, light also defines the expressive strength of colour. The bright colours used in this picture seem to reflect the feelings of the characters depicted. The burning red colour indicates the tense atmosphere, the queen's clothes gleam as if they had been showered with gemstones, as an indicator of her impending victory.