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Notes
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The story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1–9) is intended to explain the existence of different languages. After the Great Flood, all of humanity spoke the same language. Noah’s great-grandson, Nimrod, decided to build a tower in Babel that would reach heaven. When God saw it, he was angry and made people speak different languages so they could no longer understand one another. The building stopped. Nimrod appears in the middle distance of Leandro Bassano’s painting. Bricklayers work at either end of the large square tower on wooden scaffolding. A labourer carts bricks in a wheelbarrow while another mixes mortar with a long stick. A stonemason chips away at a block with his hammer and chisel. His ceramic jug and half-drunk glass of red wine stand on the ground beside him and a little boy sits holding his chisels.
Title
The Tower of Babel
Date
about 1600
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 137.1 x W 189.2 cm
Accession number
NG60
Acquisition method
Bequest of Lt. Colonel Olney in 1837
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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