QUEEN VASHTI REFUSING TO OBEY THE COMMAND OF AHASUERUS

Original 9 3/4 inch x 7 7/8 inch Engraving titled QUEEN VASHTI REFUSING TO OBEY THE COMMAND OF AHASUERUS.

Vashti was Queen of Persia and the first wife of Persian King Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, a book included in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and read on the Jewish holiday of Purim. She was banished for her refusal to appear at the king’s banquet to show her beauty as the king wished, and Esther was chosen to succeed her as queen.

Illustration by Gustave Doré (1832 – 1883). The most popular and successful French book illustrator of the middle of the 19th century. Doré became widely known for his illustrations to such books as Danté’s Inferno (1861), Don Quixote (1862), and the Bible (1866), and he helped to give European currency to the illustrated book of large format. He was so prolific that at one time he employed more than forty wood engravers. His work is characterized by an eclectic mix of Michelangelesque nudes, northern traditions of sublime landscape, and a highly spirited love of the grotesque and bizarre.

Engraved by Adolphe François Pannemaker (1822 – 1900). Wood engraver. Graduate of Ecole Royale in Brussels. He went to Paris and worked there for more than 30 years, especially as book illustrator, often working with his son and pupil, Stéphane Pannemaker (1847-1930), especially on reproductions of Gustave Doré’s book illlustrations and A. Doms, a wood-engraver who occasionally worked in collaboration with Pannemaker.

From Doré’s illustrated edition of the Bible 1866.

This edition from Cassell’s ‘Doré Gallery’ published in 1885.

Page size 12 1/4 inch x 9 1/8 inch

The engraving is in very good condition. Reverse side blank.