Lot 9: CIRCLE OF HENDRIK VAN CLEVE III

CIRCLE OF HENDRIK VAN CLEVE III THE TOWER OF BABEL oil on panel, stamped on the reverse with the panel mark of the City of Antwerp and the clover leaf mark of the panel maker Michiel Claessens (active in Antwerp 1590-1637) 55 by 86 cm.

Schnütgen Museum, Cologne;
Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, 1925, inv. no. 783 (according to a label on the reverse);
By whom sold through Professor Ewald, 8 February 1944, for 2000 RM;
Mr. Brüggelmann, Cologne, by 1968;
Anonymous sale, Munich, Neumeister, 17 October 1984, lot 567 (as Flemish School, early 17th Century).

The story of the Tower of Babel, taken from Genesis (XI:1-9), was a popular subject among Flemish painters such as Lucas van Valckenborch (1535/45-1597) and Hendrik van Cleve III (1525-1589), who followed a long-standing tradition of depictions of the subject in 15υth and 16υth Century illuminations and prints. Van Cleve painted a number of variants on the theme of the Tower of Babel, and was among the first to depict the characteristic rounded tower with the long entrance ramp.υ1 This painting comes close in its architectural elements and compositional scheme to a Tower of Babel attributed to Hendrick van Cleve III, sold, London, Sotheby's, 12 December 2002, lot 1.

1. See H. Minowski, Turm zu Babel, Freren 1991, pp. 177-80, cat. nos. 223-35.

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