19 - Circle of GASPAR JACOB VAN OPSTAL II

Circle of GASPAR JACOB VAN OPSTAL II "David & Abigail" / "Esther Before Ahasuerus," c. 1680 Oil on canvas Provenance: Christie’s, October 2003 Measurements: 300 x 181 cm. A pair of large vertical canvases depicting two episodes from the Old Testament featuring women. In "David and Abigail," the scene takes place outdoors, beneath a large tree with dark foliage and a luminous landscape in the background. David, wearing a breastplate, a red cloak, and a plumed helmet, stands with his soldiers and raises a finger to speak to Abigail, who kneels before him with her hands outstretched in a pleading gesture. At her feet, baskets of fruit, grapes, and bread evoke the provisions the young woman has brought to appease his wrath, and in the background, her servants and a packhorse can be glimpsed. In Esther Before Ahasuerus, the action shifts to a palatial interior of monumental architecture, with arches, columns, and faux reliefs in the background. The king, seated on his throne beneath a velvet canopy trimmed with gold braid, extends his scepter toward Esther, who steps forward wearing a rich green cloak and a silver brocade gown, accompanied by two kneeling ladies-in-waiting. Courtiers are visible behind the throne, and a fringed carpet cascades down the steps, creating a highly theatrical effect. Gaspar Jacob van Opstal II belonged to a family of artists from Antwerp and worked in the late 17th and early 18th centuries as a painter of history scenes and mural decorations for the homes of the Flemish bourgeoisie and nobility. His work draws on the legacy of the great Antwerp Baroque painting tradition—that of Rubens and his circle—with figures of eloquent expression and highly theatrical compositions, while also embracing the French decorative classicism of the Louis XIV era, which shaped the great cycles of cabinet and salon painting. The pairing of these subjects is no coincidence. Abigail and Esther were two of the most popular heroines of what the 17th century called the “femmes fortes”—women from the Bible and antiquity who exemplified virtue, prudence, and courage—a genre that spread through illustrated books, such as *La Gallerie des femmes fortes* by Pierre Le Moyne (1647), and through pictorial cycles. The episode of Abigail, who goes out to meet David with provisions to prevent him from punishing her husband Nabal, and that of Esther, who appears unbidden before Ahasuerus to save her people, share the common theme of peaceful intercession before a power that can be relentless. In the Catholic world, these stories were also interpreted as prefigurations of the Virgin as mediator, which explains their popularity in religious and domestic painting. Given their format, these works must have been part of an interior decoration, perhaps alongside other canvases from the same series—a very common practice in Flemish homes of the time, where paintings replaced or complemented tapestries.