Esther before Ahasuerus by Artemisia Gentileschi Oil on canvas ca. 1630 (H: 208.3 × W: 273.7 cm) The most famous woman painter of the seventeenth century, Artemisia worked in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples. This painting, among her most ambitious, recounts the story of the Jewish heroine Esther, who appeared before King Ahasuerus to plead […]