Six centuries of artistic creation
The biblical theme of the construction of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-8) is very popular in Flemish painting throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The unfinished tower, circular in shape and architecturally complex, rises in a spiral towards the sky. The painter depicted in a single landscape different spaces and times, with imaginary references to the city of Babylon, historical references to Rome and the monuments of antiquity, together with references to the reality of his time, such as winches, pulleys, and cranes used in the construction. The iconography of the biblical narrative takes on multiple meanings; it is an allegory of humankind and the ambition and greed men have shown in the bold venture of uniting the earth and the sky, an allegory of Time which, like the tower, never ends and is under construction, unfinished for ever in a timeless universe.
| Oil on wood, 40 x 58 cm
| FARO. Museu Municipal de Faro
