The Tower of Babel
1563 | Pieter Bruegel d. Ä.
Bruegel’s monumental composition became the most famous, most often copied and varied classic depiction of the tower. Perspective is provided by the seemingly Flemish port which seems tiny in comparison with the tower. Painstakingly, and in encyclopaedic detail, Bruegel depicts countless technical and craftsmanship processes. He blends elements from antique and Romanesque architecture in the stone structure around the building’s exterior.
Bruegel’s monumental composition became the most famous, most often copied and varied classic depiction of the tower. Perspective is provided by the seemingly Flemish port which seems tiny in comparison with the tower. Painstakingly, and in encyclopaedic detail, Bruegel depicts countless technical and craftsmanship processes. He blends elements from antique and Romanesque architecture in the stone structure around the building’s exterior.
Artist:
Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. (um 1525/30 Breugel oder Antwerpen? - 1569 Brüssel) DNB
Time:
1563
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Netherlandish
Material/technology:
oak wood
Dimensions:
Overall: 114,4 cm × 155,5 cm × 3,8 cm
Framed: 135 cm × 176 cm × 6,5 cm
Signed
Designated at the bottom of a cuboid: BRVEGEL. FE. M.CCCCC.LXIII
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 1026
Provenance
1566 Nicolaas Jongelinck; probably passed into the possession of the city of Antwerp in 1566; Rudolf II; Coll. Leopold Wilhelm