Jacob van der Ulft Gorinchem 1627 - 1689 Noordwijk

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Jacob van der Ulft
the tower of babel
signed in pen and black ink: J: v: Ulft F:
gouache on vellum

Provenance

Sale, Amsterdam, P. de Vries, 14 April 1908;
Pieter Langerhuizen (L.2095), his sale, Amsterdam, F. Muller and Co., 19 April 1919, lot 779;
sale, Amsterdam, F. Muller and Co., 12 December 1935, lot 905;
sale, London, Sotheby's, 26 November 1970, lot 14, reproduced;
Martin Bodmer, Geneva;
Bernard H. Breslauer Collection, New York

Exhibited

New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, The Bernard H. Breslauer Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, 1992-3, cat. no. 28, reproduced

Literature

Rembrandt and his Century, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Institut Néerlandais, 1974, p. 161, note 14;
Helmut Minkowski, Vermutungen über den Turm zu Babel, 1991, p. 204, no. 318, reproduced

Catalogue Note

Van der Ulft was born in Gorinchem where he held various civic positions. He was probably self-taught as an artist and is primarily known for his topographical drawings, frequently done in brown wash. Although many are Italian views, it is thought that he never travelled to Italy but rather worked from prints and drawings by other artists. Gouaches by van der Ulft are extremely rare: other examples are in the Lugt Collection, Paris, and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (see Literature below). This is a particularly splendid example, and unusual in its Biblical subject.

The subject of the Tower of Babel, recounted in Genesis 11:1-9, became popular in the Netherlands during the 16th and 17th centuries. The builders of the tower intended it to reach to Heaven and to make them famous, but God punished their pride by scattering the people and creating the confusion of different languages. Van der Ulft's composition does not appear to be copied from another prototype, but does bear similarities to the type established by Hendrick van Cleve and perpetuated by Flemish artists of the 17th century, in which the tower sits on a square foundation and streets and other buildings radiate from it (see Minkowski, op.cit., p. 177, fig. 223).