The Tower of Babel

Name: HENDRICK VAN CLEVE III (ANTWERP 1525-1590)
Brand: The Tower of Babel
Price: 24000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 30,000

Estimate

GBP 25,000 - GBP 30,000

Closed: 8 Dec 2021

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HENDRICK VAN CLEVE III (ANTWERP 1525-1590)

The Tower of Babel

Price Realised GBP 30,000

Closed: 8 Dec 2021

Price Realised GBP 30,000

Closed: 8 Dec 2021

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

HENDRICK VAN CLEVE III (ANTWERP 1525-1590)
The Tower of Babel
oil on panel
25³⁄₈ x 28³⁄₈ in. (64.5 x 72 cm.)

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
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Conditions of Sale
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This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

Brought to you by

Maja MarkovicDirector, Head of Evening Sale

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Lot Essay

The story of the tower of Babel, taken from Genesis (XI:1-9), provided a rich source of subject matter for several late sixteenth and early seventeenth century Flemish painters, following in the long-standing tradition of portrayals of the subject in fifteenth and sixteenth century prints and illuminated manuscripts. The subject recounts how the people of Babel decided to build 'a city and a tower, with its top in the heavens', appointing Nimrod, 'the mighty warrior before the Lord', to oversee its construction. Until the late fifteenth century, the Tower was traditionally depicted as a relatively low building, almost always square in construction. Hendrick van Cleve III, along with the Brueghels and Lucas van Valckenborch, was among the first to depict round Towers, sometimes spiralled (as in the present work), the foreground crowded with numerous small figures and animals.