The Worship of the Golden Calf

Artist Jan Steen Dutch, 1626–1679

Datecirca 1672–1675

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions70 1/4 x 61 1/4 in. (178.4 x 155.6 cm)
Frame: 88 1/2 x 79 5/8 in. (224.8 x 202.2 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina, 1952, and dedicated in memory of Noelle Ocon, Senior Conservator of Paintings (1997–2020), by the NCMA Board of Trustees, 2020

Object number52.9.58

On View

On view

ProvenanceCreated Leiden, Netherlands, ca. 1672–1975. [Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, May 14, 1749, no. 15]. Balthazar Beschey (1708–1776), Antwerp; [his sale, Antwerp, July 1, 1776, no. 13]; Jan Frans Beschey (1717-1786) [1]; [his sale, Antwerp, August 21, 1787, no. 33]; [F. de Roy, Brussels] [2]. [Vincent Donjeux, Paris, before d. 1793]; [his sale, Lebrun et Paillet, Paris, April 29, 1793, no. 262]; [Meunier family of dealers, Paris]. [Possible sale, Bryant, London, 1864, bought in]. Private collection, Austria, by 1925. A. M. Vroeg, Mookerheide, Netherlands, by 1926–at least 1937. [Schaeffer Galleries, New York]; sold to NCMA, 1952.

[1] Brother and student of Balthazar Beschey. Other sources list the Jan Frans’s death year as 1799, but the 1787 sale catalogue is explicit that the collection is that of J.F. Beschey and that the sale is posthumous.

[2] Annotations in the 1787 Beschey catalogue indicate that the Steen was bought at this sale by a “De Roy” or “De Roij”, this is probably F. de Roy, a dealer based in Brussels for which no further information has been found.

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