The Triumph of Mordecai | Jean François de Troy | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Gallery LabelThe series was inspired not only by the Old Testament book of Esther but also by Racine's tragedy about the celebrated Jewish queen of King Ahasuerus. Esther's kinsman Mordecai rides triumphantly through the streets of Susa, led by his enemy Haman.

In 1736 De Troy undertook the design of seven cartoons representing the story of Esther for the Gobelin tapestry works. The final cartoon for The Triumph of Mordecai was completed in Rome in 1739, and the first tapestry was woven between 1741 and 1744. The present work is a preliminary oil sketch for the cartoon.

NotesThis is one of several preliminary sketches for the cartoons for seven Gobelin tapestries depicting scenes from the story of Esther. The cartoon for the Triumph of Mordecai (329 x 710 cm) was painted in Rome in 1739, exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1740, and engraved by Parrocel and Beauvarlet. It is now in the Louvre (inv. 8219). The MMA painting (86 x 150.2 cm) is considered to be the earliest of the sketches related to the cartoon. A smaller version (55 x 130 cm) of the MMA work in a private collection in Paris was formerly in the Rothan collection. A studio version (61 x 132 cm) is in the Musée des beaux-arts, Beaune (inv. 882-3-1).

Workshop and other copies after the Triumph of Mordecai include the following paintings:
Arsène Houssaye sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 22–23, 1896, no. 44 (45 x 55 cm)
Henri Lacroix sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 18–23, 1901, no. 25 (75 x 116 cm)
M. T. Shiff sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 21–22, 1905, no. 83 (41 x 85 cm), tentatively (and erroneously) identified with the Rothan sketch; possibly in the Henri Rémon collection in 1911

An anonymous sketch, differing in details, is in the Musée Baron Martin, Gray (23 x 34 cm; inv. R.F. 1986-46).

ProvenanceGeorges Hoentschel, Paris (until 1906; sold to Morgan); J. Pierpont Morgan, New York (1906)

References

Jean François de Troy. Letter to M. Orry. August 29, 1738 [published in Anatole de Montaiglon and Jules Guiffrey, "Correspondance des directeurs de l'Académie de France à Rome," Paris, vol. 9, 1899, p. 349], writes that he has not been able to work on the paintings for the king [the cartoons for the tapestry series of the story of Esther], since he does not have the sketches with him.

chevalier de Valory in L. Dussieux et al. Mémoires inédits sur la vie et les ouvrages des membres de l'Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. Paris, 1854, vol. 2, p. 277, states that the sketches for the series of the Story of Esther were painted in 1736, and the cartoons in 1739; describes the cartoon for the Triumph of Mordecai (Musée du Louvre, Paris).

Charles Blanc. Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles: École française. 2, Paris, 1862, p. 14, states that de Troy offered to paint the series for 2,000 francs rather than the 3,000 francs proposed, thus securing the commission; reprints text of Ref. Valory 1854.

Joseph Breck and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. New York, 1925, p. 299, call it a study for the Louvre painting.

G[aston]. Brière in Louis Dimier. Les peintres français du XVIII siècle. 2, Paris, 1930, pp. 18–19, 34, no. 18, supplies information about the sketches and cartoons, noting that the cartoons were engraved by Beauvarlet; conflates this painting and the ex-Rothan version, giving the provenance of no. 18 as Rothan and Hoentschel, with the dimensions of the Rothan work.

J. Combe. Exposition esquisses maquettes: projets et ébauches de l'école française du XVIIIe siècle. Exh. cat., Galerie Cailleux. Paris, [1934], p. 22, states that all the sketches except the Triumph of Mordecai [referring either to this work or to the ex-Rothan painting] were included in the Marcille sale of 1857.

Charles Sterling. "XV–XVIII Centuries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of French Paintings. 1, Cambridge, Mass., 1955, pp. 117–18, ill., states that this sketch varies only slightly from the Louvre cartoon.

Charles Schaettel. Unpublished catalogue of the paintings in the Musée des beaux-arts, Beaune. 1971, p. 57, under no. 24, identifies the Beaune painting as a copy after the MMA work, which he dates after 1737, calling it the second study, after the ex-Rothan version.

Marie-Catherine Sahut in La collection A. P. de Mirimonde (legs aux musées de Gray et de Tours). Exh. cat., Musée du Louvre. Paris, 1987, p. 83, ill., calls the MMA painting the original sketch, and attributes the painting at Gray to a student of de Troy.

Christophe Leribault. Jean-François de Troy (1679–1752). Paris, 2002, pp. 98, 352–53, 360, no. P.252a, ill. pp. 97 (color), 352, dates it probably 1736 and calls it the first sketch, noting that the ex-Rothan version conforms more closely to the Louvre cartoon.

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