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The Triumph of Mordecai

ca. 1736
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 632

In 1736 de Troy undertook seven enormous preparatory designs for tapestries representing the Old Testament story of Esther that were woven at the Gobelins tapestry manufactory. A significant amount of history painters’ commissions came from tapestries, which were considered of suitable scale and prestige for such subjects. This preliminary oil sketch for one of de Troy’s Esther series depicts her kinsman and adoptive father, Mordecai, riding triumphantly through the streets of Susa (present-day Iran). The costumes were doubly imaginary, as de Troy interpreted and exoticized both historical and Middle Eastern dress. Having worked out the figures’ relationships at this reduced size, he later painted a full-scale model (1738–39; Musée du Louvre, Paris) before the first tapestries were woven between 1741 and 1744.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Triumph of Mordecai
  • Artist: Jean François de Troy (French, Paris 1679–1752 Rome)
  • Date: ca. 1736
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 33 5/8 x 59 1/4 in. (86 x 150.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1906
  • Object Number: 07.225.285
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Study of a Draped Figure, Jean François de Troy French, Red and white chalk, stumped, on blue prepared paper
Study of a Draped Figure
Jean François de Troy
ca. 1736–39
The Declaration of Love, Jean François de Troy French, Oil on canvas
The Declaration of Love
Jean François de Troy
ca. 1724
The Garter, Jean François de Troy French, Oil on canvas
The Garter
Jean François de Troy
1724
The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet, Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) French, Oil on canvas
The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet
Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée)
ca. 1643
Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carraux de Rosemond (1765–1788), Adélaïde Labille-Guiard French, Oil on canvas
Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carraux de Rosemond (1765–1788)
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
1785

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