Circle of Frederik van Valckenborch

Nanne Ottema (1874-1955), Leeuwarden, by 1935 (as Paul Brill);

With C.J. Habets, The Hague, 1959;

Anonymous sale, London, Bonhams, 5 July 2017, lot 44 (as Circle of Valkenborch);

Where acquired by the present collector.

This richly detailed depiction of the Tower of Babel, painted by an artist in the circle of Frederik van Valckenborch, offers a visual meditation on human ambition and divine hubris. Rising from a bustling harbor city, the spiraling tower dominates the landscape, its tiered structure combining Roman architectural motifs with fantastical invention. Animated with swarming figures, cranes, and building activity, the scene underscores the collective endeavor—and inevitable futility—of mankind’s attempt to reach heaven, a theme that resonated deeply with late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century viewers.