Overview
This complex scene depicts a series of events as told in Exodus 32, with several vignettes carrying the main narrative from the middle into the background. In the center middle ground, the Israelites watch as the high priest Aaron collects golden ornaments for the making of an idol in the form of a golden calf, which he is shown casting in the far background. In the left background, the completed calf is displayed upon an altar, surrounded by worshippers; in the center right background are scenes of feasting and merrymaking. In the far upper right, a fiery light bathes the lower body of Moses on Mount Sinai as he receives the Ten Commandments. (The upper part of the canvas was cut at some point.) In the foreground, to the left and right, are richly dressed revelers and observers. The man at the far upper left looking out of the scene appears to be a portrait.
The overall composition is loosely based upon one of the last works produced by the Tintoretto studio during Jacopo’s lifetime (The Gathering of the Manna, 1592/1594). The similarities suggest that The Worship of the Golden Calf was painted in the Tintoretto studio around the time of Jacopo Tintoretto’s death in 1594, or possibly later, when the shop was headed by his son
Entry
The painting depicts the events of Exodus 32, with the main events of the story appearing in the middle and background. In the center middle ground, the Israelites watch as the high priest Aaron collects golden ornaments for the making of an idol in the form of a golden calf, which he is shown casting in the far background. In the left background, the completed calf is displayed upon an altar, surrounded by worshippers; in the center right background are scenes of feasting and merrymaking. In the far upper right, the now-truncated figure of Moses on Mount Sinai (see Technical Summary) is bathed in a fiery light as he receives the Ten Commandments. In the foreground, to the left and right, are richly dressed revelers and observers. The man at the far upper left looking out of the scene appears to be a portrait.
Around the time of its purchase by the Kress Foundation in 1935, The Worship of the Golden Calf was attributed to
Hans Tietze, in 1948, took a different view, dating the picture late in the century and relating it to the style of Marco Tintoretto.
The judgment of the picture first made by Tietze (although not his specific link to the name of Marco Tintoretto) remains convincing. Like a number of works assigned in the past to Tintoretto in his early years or around 1555, The Worship of the Golden Calf is the work of a later, different hand.
The overall composition is loosely based upon the Gathering of the Manna of 1592/1594, still in the church for which it was created, San Giorgio Maggiore, and one of the last works produced by the Tintoretto studio during Jacopo’s lifetime
All of this evidence suggests that The Worship of the Golden Calf was painted in the Tintoretto studio around the time of Jacopo Tintoretto’s death in 1594, or possibly later, when the shop was headed by
Robert Echols
March 21, 2019
Provenance
Hastings (or Hasting) collection, England.[1] possibly (David M. Koetser Gallery, New York).[2] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); sold 26 June 1935 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1939 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1939
- Dutch and Italian Masterpieces from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Dayton Art Institute, 1939-1940, no catalogue.
- 1939
- Masterpieces of Five Centuries, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939, no. 55.
- 1940
- Masterpieces of Art. European & American Paintings 1500-1900, New York World's Fair, 1940, no. 19, repro.
Technical Summary
The support consists of six pieces of a heavy, twill-weave fabric with four seams. Two vertical seams are located 75 centimeters from the left edge and 120 centimeters from the right edge, just in between the two repoussoir groups. The horizontal seam is located 39 centimeters from the top, through the arms of the standing figures on the left and just above the head of the balding man on the right. A seventh piece of fabric, a small strip at the bottom center, roughly 13 centimeters in height, is a later replacement. All the tacking edges have been removed, but cusping at the sides and bottom indicates that these dimensions are near the original. The lack of cusping at the top supports the visual evidence that the canvas has been cut there, severing the kneeling figure at the upper right.
The white ground is very thin, and the x-radiographs suggest it was applied with a palette knife or spatula. The artist laid in the central composition with a free, brushy sketch in black over the ground. A thin, dark imprimatura blocks in the area of the left repoussoir, which is then sketched with white. The brown imprimatura may extend over other parts of the composition, including the right-side repoussoir, which combines differently colored underpainting layers and white-paint sketching. The paint is applied freely, using a full range of applications, from glazes through impasted linear highlights. The preliminary sketching provided a guide for the painter but is not rigorously followed, and revisions are quickly sketched over broader paint layers. Just to the right of center, a male figure and an area of green landscape are partly covered by a transparent layer of blue paint. This appears to be the result of the mistaken removal during an old restoration of the top layers of paint that the artist had added over the figure, intending to cover it. The overall condition is good, although there is scattered flaking and some abrasion of the paint, especially in the darks. The abrasion allows the dark fabric to show through in some areas. There is also an old tear extending from the top edge at the center of the composition. Some retouching has become discolored, and there are stains and remnants of old, discolored varnishes on the surface. The paint on the inserted canvas is different in color and texture; this can be assumed to be a later replacement. In 1936 Stephen Pichetto relined the picture, removed a discolored varnish, and inpainted it. Mario Modestini inpainted the picture further and applied another layer of varnish in 1955.
Robert Echols and Joanna Dunn based on the examination report by Catherine Metzger
March 21, 2019
Bibliography
- 1941
- Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 194-195, no. 291.
- 1942
- Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 245, repro. 195.
- 1945
- Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 128, repro.
- 1948
- Tietze, Hans. Tintoretto: The Paintings and Drawings. New York, 1948: 381.
- 1950
- Pallucchini, Rodolfo. La giovinezza del Tintoretto. Milan, 1950: 153.
- 1957
- Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:183.
- 1959
- Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 201, repro.
- 1965
- Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 128.
- 1968
- National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 115, repro.
- 1970
- De Vecchi, Pierluigi. L’opera completa del Tintoretto. Milan, 1970: 101, no. 139.
- 1972
- Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 201.
- 1973
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 54-55, fig. 98.
- 1975
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 340, repro.
- 1979
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:471-472; 2:pl. 336, 336A,B.
- 1982
- Pallucchini, Rodolfo, and Paola Rossi. Tintoretto: le opere sacre e profane. 2 vols. Venice, 1982: 1:171, no. 180; 2:fig. 236.
- 1984
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 230, no. 290, color repro.
- 1985
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 391, repro.
- 1999
- Meijer, Bert W. “Flemish and Dutch Artists in Venetian Workshops: the Case of Jacopo Tintoretto.” In Renaissance Venice and the North: Crosscurrents in the Time of Dürer, Bellini and Titian. Edited by Bernard Aikema and Beverly Louise Brown. Exh. cat. Palazzo Grassi, Venice. Milan, 1999: 143, repro.
- 2009
- Echols, Robert, and Frederick Ilchman. “Toward a New Tintoretto Catalogue, with a Checklist of Revised Attributions and a New Chronology.” In Jacopo Tintoretto: Actas del congreso internacional/Proceedings of the International Symposium, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, February 26-27, 2007. Madrid, 2009: 144, no. S52.
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