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The Old Testament relates the account of the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. While Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments from God, his elder brother, Aaron, responding to a request from the Israelites for an idol, gave the people a golden calf to worship. When Moses discovered their idolatry he was so incensed that he threw down and shattered the stone tablets bearing the commandments. He then burned the golden calf, ground it to a powder and forced the Israelites to drink it, as atonement for worshipping a false idol.

This depiction of the Golden Calf is after Nicolas Poussin's The Adoration of the Golden Calf, circa 1634, (oil on canvas), which now hangs in the National Gallery in London. The compositions are identical, but the fan-painter's treatment of this subject has none of the weight, the classicised stoicism, and the theatrical shading of Poussin's celebrated work. The diaphonous quality of the water-colours with which it has been painted, lend the painting a lightness and irreverance that belie the sober subject depicted, but are nevertheless well-suited to a fan, which remains an enduring symbol of coquetry.

Details

  • Title: Fan leaf
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: 1700/1800
  • Location: France
  • Physical Dimensions: Width: 149.5 cm, Length: 23 cm, Depth: 1.7 cm
  • Medium: Watercolour on kid

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