Lucas van Leyden: The Golden Calf (1530)

This colorful triptych is one of the most impressive late medieval works in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. Currently it is on loan as part of an exhibition about the painter and graphic artist Lucas van Leyden, in the Lakenhal Museum in his birthplace Leiden. The work describes the biblical story of how the people of Israel worship the golden calf against God’s will. Upon his return from Mount Sinai, Moses, in all his fury, smashes the Ten Commandments he’s just received.
Lucas (ca. 1494-1533) is regarded as an important representative of the North European Renaissance. His prints in particular were praised for their exceptional quality by contemporary authorities such as Giorgio Vasari and Albrecht Dürer. The latter, probably the most influential Northern-European artist of his days, met Lucas van Leyden in 1521, on which occasion he drew Lucas’ portrait. They also exchanged some of their prints. Rembrandt was very fond of Lucas’ work as well; Van Leyden’s descriptions of everyday life inspired him. He possessed the entire graphic oeuvre of his fellow-townsman, paying more than 200 guilders (an annual wage for a laborer) for some of them.
This painting shows another side of Lucas’ talent. The well thought-out spatial arrangement of this triptych reveals his great interest in and knowledge of the ‘modern art’ from Italy, Renaissance. Renaissance art found its ideological base in the philosophy of humanism, one of whose aims it was to show the human being in all his facets. Those influences are recognizable in the countless ways in which he presents the persons on the panels to us.