Aanbidding van het gouden kalf 1683 - 1733

Bernard Picart made this etching, "The Adoration of the Golden Calf," sometime between 1696 and 1733. It depicts a scene from the Old Testament when the Israelites, impatient with Moses’s absence, create a golden calf to worship. Picart was French, but he spent his later years in the Netherlands. Here, he was part of a community of Huguenots, French protestants who had been exiled for their faith. Picart created images for books and Bibles, often highlighting moments of religious conflict and persecution. This image offers a critique of false idols, but also of the kind of religious fervour that can lead people astray. The artist would have been deeply concerned with the politics of imagery. As an art historian, I might look at how Picart’s work relates to debates about idolatry and the role of images in religious life during this period. The history of the book trade in the Netherlands might also give us some insight.