Fan leaf, watercolour on kid, France, 18th century

The Old Testament relates the account of the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. While Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments from God, his elder brother, Aaron, responding to a request from the Israelites for an idol, gave the people a golden calf to worship. When Moses discovered their idolatry he was so incensed that he threw down and shattered the stone tablets bearing the commandments.

He then burned the golden calf, ground it to a powder and forced the Israelites to drink it, as atonement for worshipping a false idol. This depiction of the Golden Calf is after Nicolas Poussin's The Adoration of the Golden Calf , circa 1634, (oil on canvas), which now hangs in the National Gallery in London. The compositions are identical, but the fan-painter's treatment of this subject has none of the weight, the classicised stoicism, and the theatrical shading of Poussin's celebrated work.

The diaphonous quality of the water-colours with which it has been painted, lend the painting a lightness and irreverance that belie the sober subject depicted, but are nevertheless well-suited to a fan, which remains an enduring symbol of coquetry. A painted fan leaf mounted on an oak support; watercolour on kid. After Nicolas Poussin's Adoration of the Golden Calf , c. 1634, oil on canvas, London: National Gallery.

The focal point of the composition is the golden calf, raised on an altar, draped with garlands of flowers and laurel leaves. To the right of the calf, a group of figures in classical dress have assembled; they are fervently bowing and paying homage to the shrine. They are led in their worship by Aaron, a tall bearded figure, dressed in priestly robes, his right arm extended towards the golden calf. A view of distant hills can be glimpsed in the background behind the figures. To the left of the altar, a group of bacchanalian-style revellers are dancing with wild abandon, their arms raised in the air, drawing the viewer's eye to the figure of Moses in the background, who is in the process of casting the second tablet to the ground. The first tablet lies broken at his feet.

In the foreground, a tambourine(?) has been momentarily discarded and is leaning against the rocks. The painting appears unfinished in places; in a departure from Poussin's original composition, a figure has been traced, emerging from the undergrowth in the lower left: perhaps an attempt to balance out the lower half of the composition. The artist appears to have been undecided as to what to do with the figure and has only partially obscured it with foliage. Similarly, the tree trunks have been executed with comparatively little detail and in a manner that is entirely disproportionate to the amount of detail given, for instance, to the figures' drapery.