# Queen Esther Approaching the Palace of Ahasuerus

**Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée)** (French, 1604–1682)  
1658  
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white, over black chalk  
11 13/16 x 17 1/2 in. (30 x 44.4 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997.156. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/336489).

## About this work

Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) drew this in 1658, aged 54. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Chalk.** Natural black, red and white chalks. Used together on toned paper they could give the warmth of flesh with very little effort, and they were favourites for studies from life.
- **Pen and ink.** Drawn with a quill or reed pen, often with wash added by brush to model light and shadow.

### [Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée)](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/claude-lorrain-claude-gellee)

French, 1604–1682; born in Chamagne; died in Rome

Claude Gellée, called Lorrain after his native duchy, went to Rome as a youth and spent almost his whole life there. He became the most admired landscape painter of his century, creating idealised visions of the Roman Campagna and classical harbours bathed in the golden light of morning or evening, peopled with small biblical and mythological figures. He recorded his compositions in drawings bound into a volume, the Liber Veritatis, as a guard against forgers.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Drawings
- The artist was 54
- Real size: about 12 × 17 in (30 × 44 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 11 × 14 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 17th century
- Subjects: Palaces, Men, Women, Landscapes, Esther
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1007.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1007/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/queen-esther-approaching-the-palace-of-ahasuerus-met-336489).