First Commandment: Thou shalt no God but me adore; ‘Twere too expensive to have more

Artist:

Peter Paone

(b. 1936)

First Commandment: Thou shalt no God but me adore; ‘Twere too expensive to have more

Medium: Etching and aquatint on paper
Date: 1963
Dimensions:
30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm.)
Accession number: 2023.13.32
Curatorial RemarksRather than depicting someone worshipping an image of more than one god, Peter Paone (b. 1936) presents a female that, rather humorously, though she has four heads, completely ignores the bird (definitely not a dove representing the Holy Spirit), from whom the light illuminates the scene.




Completed in 1963, The Ten Commandments of Ambrose Bierce garnered Paone a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1965, allowing him to study in London and Paris. The Brandywine’s exhibition, “In Shadows’ Embrace: Prints by Peter Paone” (2024) is the first time in 57 years that the portfolio is being shown in full, the last being at the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris.

On view