阿貝爾·格里默爾

Anonymous sale, Frankfurt, Bangel, 17 and 18 May 1904, lot 32 (as attributed to Jan Brueghel the Elder);
Acquired there or shortly after by Professor Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr von Bissing, Munich;
Thence by descent.

C. Kramm, De Levens en Werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche Kunstschilders, 1857, vol. I, p. 605;
H. Nasse, in Monatshefte für Kunstwissenschaft, 1912, p. 325, reproduced plate 37;
A. Laes, in Annuaire des Musées des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1938, p. 37;
H. Minkowski, Aus der Nebel der Vergangenheit steigt der Turm zi Babel aus 1.000 Jahren, Berlin 1960, p. 61, no. 189;
R. de Bertier de Sauvigny, Jacob et Abel Grimmer, Brussels 1991, p. 189, no. I;
H. Minkowski, Vermutungen über den Turm zu Babel, Freren 1991, pp. 172, 187, no. 257, reproduced p. 186.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The artist's panel has three vertical batons on the reverse, applied to secure the panel joins and splits. The panel joins are slightly uneven and there are also some areas of slight blistering across the paint surface, suggesting that further panel conservation would be beneficial. Paint Surface The paint surface has a rather dull and discoloured varnish layer and should respond well to cleaning. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows quite extensive retouchings, particularly in the sky, many of which are undoubtedly excessive and if they were to be removed during the cleaning process could be considerably reduced. These retouchings are most concentrated in the upper right of the sky, with a number of smaller retouchings in the upper left. There are also two horizontal lines of inpainting running across the width of the panel where the panel joins have been infilled and retouched. These are approximately 31cm and 50cm below the upper horizontal framing edge and there is also a thin line of retouching covering a horizontal split in the lower right corner. This is approximately 18cm in length and is 4cm above the lower horizontal framing edge. There is some evidence of wear in the finer details of the composition and it may be that there are other retouchings beneath the discoloured varnish layers that are not identifiable under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good condition and should respond well to cleaning should this be required. Some structural consolidation would also be recommended. Please note that an infra-red image of the present lot is available at sothebys.com
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The subject is taken from the Book of Genesis (II: 1–9) which recounts how the people resolved to 'build a city and a tower, with its top in the Heavens' and appointed Nimrod, 'the mighty warrior before the Lord' to oversee its construction. While earlier sources exist, Pieter Bruegel’s monumental painting of this subject dating from 1563 was the prime source of inspiration for both the popularity of the subject among Flemish painters of the later 16^th and early 17^th century and their compositions, including that of this picture. While some painters preferred an angular base for the tower, most, including Grimmer, followed Bruegel in basing the entire construction on a spiral. 

Grimmer repeated the present composition with small changes in a smaller work, unsigned and undated, formerly with Galerie De Jonckheere, Brussels, and in two works from 1604, in which the composition is reversed, with Nimrod and his companions in the left foreground.¹ The larger of these versions, measuring 51.1 by 66.3 cm., was sold in London, Christie’s, 2 July 2013, lot 28, for £980,000. 

Another version of the present work, in Siena, Palazzo Bonsignori, was published by Minkowski under Jan Brueghel the Elder, but from his small illustration it looks as if it is also attributable to Abel Grimmer.²

Until recently, the date on this painting (see Literature) was read as 1591, which would have made it Grimmer’s earliest dated work.

Infra-red imaging is available via the online catalogue of this sale.

 Note on the provenance.

Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr von Bissing (1873-1956) was a noted Egyptologist who became Professor at Munich University in 1901.  He was the grandson  of Otto von Wesendonck, Wagner's backer, and his yioung wife Mathilde, Wagner's close friend, confidante and muse , and thus inherited a  substantial part of the renowned Wesendonck collection.   After his death in 1956, his immense collection of Egypt Art, which to a large extent he had excavated himself, formed a substantial part of the Staatliche Museum Ägyptischer Kunst in Munich.  While the present picture may have appealed to him on account of its subject matter - massive construction in the ancient world - he was more likely influenced by the taste of the Wesendoncks, whose collection included a number of Netherlandish 16th Century landscapes, including the St. Christopher by Jan Wellens de Cock (now known as the Master J. Kock) sold in these Rooms on 8th December 2004, lot 7.

 1 See De Bertier de Sauvigny under Literature, p. 294, no. 1, reproduced

2 See under Literature, 1991, p. 172, no. 202, reproduced. Minkowski there mentions the present work, and lists two further versions, one as Flemish School, the other as Tobias Verhaeght, but does not reproduce them (ibid., p. 215, nos 363 and 364).