Bruegel the Elder, Pieter (c.1525-1569)
The Tower of Babel
1563
Oil on oak, 114.4 × 155.5 × 3.8 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Designated at the bottom of a cuboid: BRVEGEL. FE. M.CCCCC.LXIII
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. (KHM)
Compare:
Bruegel the Elder, Pieter (c.1525-1569)
The Tower of Babel
c.1568
Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam