Image: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston will open 'The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt' on August 6, 2026, presenting an exhibition that traces how the biblical story of Esther resonated across faiths in the 17th-century Netherlands. The show is scheduled to remain on view in Hostetter Gallery through January 18, 2027. According to the museum, it is the first major exhibition of 17th-century Dutch art at the Gardner.
The exhibition focuses on the long afterlife of the Book of Esther, which is read annually on the Jewish holiday of Purim. The museum’s description outlines the story’s central arc: Esther, hidden among the Persian court, ultimately reveals her Jewish identity to save her people. The Gardner frames that narrative not only as a religious text but as a source of artistic and cultural inspiration in the Christian Netherlands of the 1600s.
The museum says the exhibition explores how Esther became meaningful to both Jewish and Protestant communities in the nascent Dutch Republic. In the Netherlands, Jewish communities saw Purim as an expression of cultural and religious practice, while Dutch Protestants saw parallels with their own struggle for independence from Catholic Spain. The exhibition context also points to Amsterdam as a cosmopolitan center where Rembrandt van Rijn and Jewish immigrants lived as neighbors and, in some cases, models for artists.
'The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt' brings together Dutch paintings, tapestries, decorative arts, Persian textiles, and Jewish ceremonial objects. The museum’s exhibition page lists works including 'Esther Fainting Before Ahasuerus', 'Self-Portrait, Age 23' by Rembrandt van Rijn, 'The Feast of Esther' by Jan Lievens, 'A Jewish Heroine [possibly Esther] from the Hebrew Bible' by Rembrandt, and 'Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman' by Jan Steen, among others. The mix of objects is meant to show how Esther’s story moved across media and communities.
The exhibition is curated by Abigail Rapoport, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Curator of Judaica at the Jewish Museum, in partnership with Michele L. Frederick, Curator of European Art and Provenance Research at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The Gardner says the project is co-organized by the Jewish Museum, New York, and the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh.
The museum has also linked the exhibition to related programming and parallel displays across the building. 'Michal Rovner: Esther Scrolls' will be on view in Fenway Gallery during the same dates, and 'Michal Rovner: Untitled/Night, 2016' is installed on the Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade from July 28, 2026, to February 8, 2027. Additional talks and events listed on the Gardner’s site include 'Calling on Esther Across the Ages' on September 17, 'Nightingale of Iran' on October 8, 'Curating Esther' on October 14, 'Empathy and Exoticism: Rembrandt’s Multicultural Society' on October 15, and 'An Evening with Esther' on November 12.
The exhibition at the Gardner has received support from Barbara and Amos Hostetter, The Richard C. von Hess Foundation, an anonymous donor, Mark and Donna Leventhal Family, the Ford Foundation, and Amy and David Abrams, along with additional funding from a range of institutions and foundations named by the museum.
