Leandro Bassano, 'The Tower of Babel', about 1600
About the work
Overview
The story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1–9) is intended to explain the existence of different languages. After the Great Flood, all of humanity spoke the same language. Noah’s great-grandson, Nimrod, decided to build a tower in Babel that would reach heaven. When God saw it, he was angry and made people speak different languages so they could no longer understand one another. The building stopped.
Nimrod appears in the middle distance of Leandro Bassano’s painting. Bricklayers work at either end of the large square tower on wooden scaffolding. A labourer carts bricks in a wheelbarrow while another mixes mortar with a long stick.
A stonemason chips away at a block with his hammer and chisel. His ceramic jug and half-drunk glass of red wine stand on the ground beside him and a little boy sits holding his chisels. This painting gives us an impression of what a sixteenth-century Italian building site might have looked like.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Tower of Babel
- Artist
- Leandro Bassano
- Artist dates
- 1557 - 1622
- Date made
- about 1600
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 137.1 × 189.2 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Bequest of Lt. Colonel Olney in 1837
- Inventory number
- NG60
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Nicholas Penny, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 2, ‘Venice 1540–1600’, London 2008; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2008Andrea Palladio 500Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio20 September 2008 - 6 January 2009Royal Academy of Arts31 January 2009 - 13 April 2009CaixaForum Barcelona19 May 2009 - 6 September 2009CaixaForum Madrid6 October 2009 - 17 January 2010
Bibliography
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1883A. Berger, 'Inventar der Kunstsammlung des Erzherzogs Leopold Wilhelm von Österreich', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, I-II, 1883, pp. 79-187
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1959Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Venetian School, London 1959
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1960E. Arslan, I Bassano, Milan 1960
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1962C. Gould, 'Sebastian Serlio and Venetian Painting', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XXV/1-2, 1962, pp. 56-64
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1975C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
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1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
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1991H. Burns, 'Building and Construction in Palladio's Vicenza', in J. Guillaume (ed.), Les chantiers de la Renaissance. Actes des colloques tenus à Tours en 1983-1984, Paris 1991, pp. 191-226
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2005G. Beltramini and H. Burns, Andrea Palladio e la villa veneta da Petrarca a Carlo Scarpa, (exh. cat. Museo Palladio in Palazzo Barbaran da Porto, 5 March - 3 July 2005), Venice 2005
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2008Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, 2, Venice, 1540-1600, London 2008
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2008G. Beltramini and H. Burns, Palladio (exh. cat. Palazzo Barbaran da Porto, 20 September 2008 - 6 January 2009; Royal Academy of Arts, 31 January - 13 April 2009; Caixa Forum, 6 October 2009 - 17 January 2010), Vicenza 2008
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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