Abstract
The painting Esther before Ahasuerus marks a definitive resolution in Nicolas Poussin's approach to narrative. Instead of focusing on the representation of the passions, Poussin epitomizes Esther's beauty, Ahasuerus's majesty, and the bondage of Israel. He constructs these ideas as pictorial concetti through metaphorical allusions to ancient artworks that also appear in a contemporary text on Esther by Luigi Manzini. These same works inspired Poussin's theoretical precepts on the concetto and ideal imitation. Esther resolves Poussin's experiments with pictorial structure in his later narrative paintings to transmit poetic conceits directly to the beholder.
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