The Worship of the Golden Calf

Workshop Of Jacopo Tintoretto

Within a single canvas, many stories from Exodus are told as time and place is flattened into a single plane. In the centre, the high priest collects ornaments to create a sculpture of the golden calf. The very same sculpture that far into the background we see him casting and, just in-front of that scene, we see completed, displayed on an altar and worshipped by a crowd of followers. At the top right, Moses receives the ten commandments high upon a hill, though the canvas was cut at some point destroying much of this scene. This impossible presentation of simultaneous events is framed by richly dressed onlookers, inviting us into the scene. Painted just after Tintoretto’s death by his studio, most likely looked over by his son, the composition is based on an earlier work painted by Tintoretto himself. The painting serves as a show of the workshops ability after the masters passing, and an allegory for the power of art to open the viewers eyes to new worlds.

Sunday 23rd August

The Moon deepens into the constellation of Sagittarius, bringing a warm and expansive quality to the day. In biodynamic gardening, this fiery region of the zodiac is associated with the fruiting parts of the plant, drawing our attention towards tomatoes, beans, courgettes, berries and the many seeds now beginning to mature. At this point in late summer, warmth has already worked deeply into the garden, transforming the flowering of earlier months into ripening and abundance. It is a good day to tend, harvest and observe the fruits, but also to notice which plants still need time before they are ready. Sagittarius carries something of movement and outwardness, reminding us that every fruit is both a culmination and a beginning, holding within itself the seed of the future.