The Adoration of the Golden Calf

Claude Lorrain 1604 - 1682

Summary

This painting is a mature masterpiece and classic example of Claude's art. Trees and foreground rocks frame an expansive vista that is enclosed by soft, blue mountains in the distance. The subject, taken from Exodus 32, is transposed into an Italianate landscape. While Moses was climbing Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, the Israelites grew impatient and began to worship a golden calf, thus breaking the first commandment. When Moses returned with the stone tablets, he was so angry that he cast them down and broke them. The figures of Moses and Joshua are visible at the foot of the mountain on the left. Born in Vosges (Champagne), Claude spent most of his working life in Rome, where he evolved an idealised style of landscape painting distilled from his close study of the surrounding landscape, and its description by Ovid and Virgil. Although his landscapes are based on religious or mythological subjects, the real subject of his art is the landscape itself. His work informed French art theory on landscape and had a profound influence on landscape practice in France and England.

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Grand Tour and Grand Style The Influence of Travel Improvements in European travel during the 1700s had a wide-ranging impact on British culture. A particularly significant influence was the Grand Tour, which became almost obligatory for young gentlemen. Grand Tourists were led across Europe by tutors to study art, history and politics for two or three years. The Grand Tour focused on Italy, particularly Rome, and often incorporated new archaeological sites such as those at Herculaneum and Pompei, near Naples. Ancient antiquities were heavily trafficked across Europe and continental works of art flooded into Britain. A period of especially active collecting took place between the end of the Seven Years War in 1763 and the rise of Napoleon in the 1790s. As more artists and designers also visited the continent their work became increasingly informed by travel. The serious themes of classical antiquity and European art led to a new departure in painting called the Grand Style. This championed classical, historical or literary subjects, and inspired radical changes in portraiture and landscape. Widespread interest in Greek and Roman remains also fostered fresh interpretations of ancient designs by pioneers of decorative art such as Josiah Wedgwood.