The Tower of Babel

For more than a thousand years the myth of the construction of the Tower of Babel has been depicted in art. This myth can be found illustrated in many cultures, but the best-known and most complete description is found in the Old Testament—Genesis 11:1-9. People from across the land set out to erect a tower all the way to the heaven. In response to this display of arrogance and to counter the idea that there was a shortcut to heaven (beyond living a good life), God created many different languages so that the architects and workers could not understand one another. The result was that communication was inhibited, architectural styles did not mesh, and thus the tower ultimately collapsed. This myth also provided us with the words babble, as in the sounds a baby makes, and babel, or a scene of noise or confusion.

Since the middle ages, the pictorial presentations of this myth have been ambivalent. The tower inevitably remains unfinished, but the punishment by God is usually only weakly indicated or left out entirely. The focus and emphasis is usually on a representation of human achievement. Only rarely can you find examples of a dramatic punishment of human arrogance.

This painting from the circle of Gillis van Valckenborch comes from an era when hundreds of paintings depicting the Tower of Babel were created in the Netherlands. It shows the monumental, unfinished project being admired by the builder and his entourage. Numerous workers are busy with the preparation and transport of additional building materials. Curious are the blend of historic building styles that led to the tower’s collapse.