Lot 19: Circle of Abel Grimmer (Antwerp c. 1570-1618/9)

The Tower of Babel signed (?) with monogram 'HV' (lower centre, on the fountain) oil on panel 371/2 x 50 in. (95.2 x 127 cm.) PROVENANCE In the collection of the family of the present owner since at least the nineteenth century. NOTES Reine de Bertier de Sauvigny, to whom we are very grateful for her assistance in cataloguing this lot, has proposed a full attribution to Hans Vredeman de Vries (Leeuwarden 1527-?1606 Antwerp?) for this picture. The composition belongs to a number of works by late-sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Flemish artists that are mostly influenced ultimately by the two iconic eponymous works of Pieter Breugel I of 1563 (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; and Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen), whose architectural representation was influenced by the Colosseum in Rome. The present picture clearly recalls the work of Abel Grimmer, for example the painting formerly in the von Bissing collection, Munich, dated 1591 (see R. de Bertier de Sauvigny, Jacob et Abel Grimmer, Brussels, 1991, p. 189, no. 1), or those sold, Christie's, Amsterdam, 17 October 1977, lot 317, or, Sotheby's, London, 11 April 1990, lot 12, both signed and dated 1604. All three include the raised terrace (on the right, as opposed to that in the present picture on the left) with the figures of Nimrod, his courtiers, architects and soldiers. The present painting, however, not only presents a greater level of detail in both the architecture and the staffage than is represented in Grimmer's versions, but in addition appears to possess a stronger grasp both of perspective and architecture. Those areas would accord perfectly with the abilities of Vredeman de Vries, who specialised in a Mannerist style of architecture that is unusually evident in the present Tower, but about whose painting style relatively little is known. Interestingly, Van Mander mentioned that 'Vredeman de Vries, when he travelled from Hamburg to Amsterdam, took with him a Tower of Babel full of details which had given him a lot of trouble with his eyes. That picture is now in the possession of a certain Pieter Overlander in Amsterdam.'.