Esther

Esther is an oil on canvas painting by John Everett Millais depicting the central character from the Biblical Book of Esther. It was created in 1865. It is from Millais's Aesthetic phase, when he was influenced by the work of Frederic Leighton and James McNeill Whistler.

The painting depicts Esther, the Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, as she prepares to enter the presence of her husband. As she is uninvited, she risks death, but does so to inform him of a plot against the Jews.

Millais borrowed the Yellow Jacket, a gown given to General Gordon by the Chinese emperor after his defeat of the Taiping Rebellion. In order to create a culturally unspecific effect, he turned it inside out, producing the abstract patterns visible in the painting.

Millais creates a dramatic visual effect by vivid contrasts of colours, setting the deep blue of the curtain against the yellow dress and the w…

摘自英文维基百科「Esther (Millais)」（CC BY-SA 4.0），暂时没有中文条目。