Schedule
Gardner Museum Book of Esther Private Tour
October 2nd, 2026
Join Tom Bogart, Holland Society Board Member and New England Branch President, and Adèle Chuchla, Manager of Programs and Events, for a private tour of The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. This exhibit, the first major exhibition of 17th-century Dutch art at the Gardner, uncovers how this Jewish heroine from the Old Testament became an icon in the 1600s Netherlands across faiths.
The tour begins at 12:30 pm with an optional lunch beforehand at the museum’s Café G at 11:30 am.
The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt showcases how Esther’s story of an orphan becoming a Persian queen to save her people by risking her life in revealing her origins became inspiration for national identity of both Jewish and Christian communities in the 1600s Netherlands. For Jewish communities, Esther became a symbol of open religious expression and pride in their faith. For Christians, specifically Protestants, they saw themselves in Esther in their fight to gain independence from Catholic Spain.
In Amsterdam at this time, as the Jewish community grew, so did trade with the Middle East, and the interest in Esther and Persia further expanded. A repeated subject for Rembrandt and fellow contemporary artists, Esther captured the minds and artistic inspiration throughout the art world in the Netherlands. Using an array of media, including Dutch paintings, tapestries, decorative arts, Persian textiles, and Jewish ceremonial objects, this exhibit is not to be missed. Click here to learn more about the exhibit.
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