Esther before Ahasuerus

Konrad Witz's Esther before Ahasuerus, from the Heilsspiegelaltar painted around 1435, depicts the Old Testament queen's courageous appeal to the Persian king. This scene was read typologically as prefiguring the Virgin Mary's intercession before Christ in the altarpiece's theological program Egg tempera on panel was the dominant technique of the period, demanding careful layer-by-layer construction and patient craftsmanship The work is now in the collection of Kunstmuseum Basel.

The interior scene features Witz's characteristic treatment of space and volume, with the figures rendered as weighty, three-dimensional presences within a shallow architectural setting painted with precise material detail.