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.
Published References“Catalogue van extra schoone schilderyen…naergelaeten by wylen d’heer Balthazar Beschey,” (auction catalogue) (Antwerp, July 1, 1776), lot 13.

“Catalogue d’une grande collection de tableaux…delaissés par feu M. J. F. Beschey,” (auction catalogue) (Antwerp, August 21, 1787), lot 33.

“Catalogue des objets précieux trouvés après le décès du citoyen Vincent Donjeaux,” (auction catalogue) (Paris, Lebrun et Paillet, April 29, 1793), lot. 262.

C[ornelis] Hofstede de Groot, Edward G. Hawke, ed., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, Vol. 1 (London: MacMillan and Co., 1908), no. 7.

W. Martin, Jan Steen (Leiden, 1926), 22, 25, illus.

Hans Vollmer, ed., Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker's Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Vol. 31 (Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1937), 511.

Life (December 10, 1956), illus.

W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 68, illus. (b-w).

May Davis Hill, "Representations from the Old Testament in the Museum's Collection of Paintings." North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 1, no. 2 (Summer 1957), briefly discussed 12-13, illus. (b-w) 13.

The Bible Through Dutch Eyes: From Genesis Through the Apocrypha (exhibition catalogue) (Milwaukee: Milwaukee Art Center, 1976), cat. no. 32, illus.

Baruch D. Kirschenbaum, The Religious and Historical Paintings of Jan Steen (New York and Montclair: Allanheld & Schram, 1977), cat. no. 7, pp. 51, 69, 71-73, 97, 99, 111-112, illus. 216.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 111.

Peter C. Sutton, "The Life and Art of Jan Steen," Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 78, nos. 337-38 (Winter 1982/Spring 1983), 19, illus.

Karel Braun, Alle tot nu toe bekende schilderijen van Jan Steen (Rotterdam: Lekturama, 1980), illus. 139.

Dutch Art in the Age of Rembrandt (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1986), discussed 6, illus. (b-w) 6, fig. 4.

Onno Ydema, Carpets and Their Datings in Netherlandish Paintings (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collector's Club Ltd, 1991), listed no. 851 (as Worshipping the Golden Calf).

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 105.

Joachim Kaak, Rembrandts Grisaille "Johannes der Täufer predigend" Dekorum-Verstoss oder Ikonographie der Unmoral? (PhD diss, Bochum, 1992), 188.

Ronald L. Ecker, And Adam Knew Eve: A Dictionary of Sex in the Bible (Palatka, FL: Hodge & Braddock, 1995), illus. fig. 8.

North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1995-96), illus. 19 (in conjunction with article on the Robert Lee Humber lecture by Arthur Wheelock).

Chuck Twardy, "Dutch Gold Sees the Light Again," Raleigh: The News and Observer (February 9, 1996, "What's Up" insert), mentioned 21.

H. Perry Chapman, et al, Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller (exhibition catalogue) (Washington DC: National Gallery of Art; Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1996), cat. no. 47, illus. (color).

Mariët Westermann, The Amusements of Jan Steen: Comic Painting in the Seventeenth Century (Zwolle: Waanders Publishers, 1997), 288, illus. (b-w) 289.

Dennis Weller, entry for The Worship of the Golden Calf, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 110-11, illus. (color) 110, detail (color) 96.

Ken Smith, "As I See It," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (March/April 1999), 29.

Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (March/April 2002), illus. (color) 22, (color detail) inside back cover.

Joanna Kikissis, "New respect for an old master," Raleigh: The News and Observer (October 13, 2002), mentioned 3G.

"Dutch Seventeenth-Century Biblical Paintings," in North Carolina Museum of Art supplement to the Durham Herald-Sun (October 2002), mentioned 7.

M. Therese Southgate, M.D., "The Cover," JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 288, no. 22 (December 11, 2002), discussed 2785, illus. (color) 2779 and cover.

Dennis P. Weller, Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings [Systematic Catalogue of the Collection] (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2009), cat. no. 40, illus. (color) 189.

Dennis P. Weller, entry for The Worship of the Golden Calf, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 232-233, illus. (color) 235, detail (color) 234.

Ariane van Suchtelen, et al, Jan Steen’s Histories (exhibition catalogue) (Zwolle: Waanders Publishers for Mauritshuis, The Hague, 2018), cat. no. 4, pp. 20, 26, 62, 90, 92–94, 174, illus. (color) 91 and detail (color) 95, also illus (color) 25, fig. 25, and detail (color) 21, fig. 19.

Christopher White, “Jan Steen” (exhibition review), The Burlington Magazine 160, no. 1382 (May 2018), briefly discussed 414.

Elmer Kolfin, "Black in the Art of Rembrandt's Time," in Elmer Kolfin and Epco Runia, eds., Black in Rembrandt's Time (exhibition catalogue) (Zwolle: WBOOKS in collaboration with The Rembrandt House Museum, 2020), 26-29, illus. (color) detail 27, fig. 18.

Ben Johnston-Krase, "On Jan Steen's The Worship of the Golden Calf" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 154.Exhibition HistoryLeiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, "Jan Steen Tentoonstelling," 1926, no. 69.

Durham, NC, Duke University Art Museum, "Opening Exhibition," October 18-December 15, 1969.

Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee Art Center, "The Bible Through Dutch Eyes: From Genesis Through the Apocrypha," April 9-May 23, 1976, cat. no. 32, illus.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Dutch Art in the Age of Rembrandt," October 25, 1986-February 15, 1987, discussed 6, illus. (b-w), 6, fig. 4.

Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, "Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller," April 28-August 18, 1996; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, September 22, 1996-January 12, 1997, cat. no. 47, illus. (color) (versions in English, Dutch and German).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Dutch Biblical Paintings/Rembrandt Etchings," October 13, 2002-January 5, 2003.

The Hague, Mauritshuis, “Jan Steen’s Histories,” February 15–May 13, 2018, cat. no. 4, illus. (color), cat. no. 4, illus. (color).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Becoming the NCMA: 10 Decades of Collecting, 1924-2022," June 11-August 21, 2022.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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