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- Author cartoon attributed to Michiel Coxie
- Performed by Pieter van Aelst the Younger workshop
- Date of production ca. 1550
- Place of creation Brussels
- Dimensions height: 481 cm, width: 812 cm
- ID no. ZKWawel 15
- Museum Wawel Royal Castle – State Art Collection
- Availability Zodiac Room
- Subjects authority, daily life, religion
- Technique weaving
- Material wool, silk, silver thread, gold thread
- Collector collection of King Sigismund Augustus
- Object copyright Wawel Royal Castle – State Art Collection
- Digital images copyright public domain
- Digitalisation RDW MIC, Digitalisation of the most significant tapestries from the collection of Wawel Royal Castle project
- Tags Wawel , Renaissance , fabric , Bible , 3D plus , King , public domain
In this, one of the three largest tapestries in the collection of King Sigismund II Augustus, we can see the beginning of the story of the construction of the Tower of Babel as described in the Book of Genesis. The scene shows Nimrod, the legendary hunter, and people building a tower “whose top may reach unto heaven” (Genesis 11:1–9) under his leadership. The building under construction is situated in the background, on the right hand side of the textile, whereas on the left side, there can be seen workers erecting the tower. Thanks to the detailed presentation, we can see, among other things, what sixteenth-century stonemasonry tools looked like. On the vast plain, people bustle around carrying blocks of stone and building a scaffolding. God, barely visible to the right of the tower, watches their feverish work. As in the other biblical tapestries, there is no shortage of accurately rendered images of animals, insects and plants.
The Latin inscription placed in the upper border reads in translation: “Nimrod, the first powerful ruler in the world, built a huge tower of baked bricks. God confounded the builders’ languages, and the work was never completed.”
In this, one of the three largest tapestries in the collection of King Sigismund II Augustus, we can see the beginning of the story of the construction of the Tower of Babel as described in the Book of Genesis. The scene shows Nimrod, the legendary hunter, and people building a tower “whose top may reach unto heaven” (Genesis 11:1–9) under his leadership. The building under construction is situated in the background, on the right hand side of the textile, whereas on the left side, there can be seen workers erecting the tower. Thanks to the detailed presentation, we can see, among other things, what 16th-century stonemasonry tools looked like. On the vast plain, people bustle around carrying blocks of stone and building a scaffolding. God, barely visible to the right of the tower, watches their feverish work. As in the other biblical tapestries, there is no shortage of accurately rendered images of animals, insects and plants.
The Latin inscription placed in the upper border reads in translation: “Nimrod, the first powerful ruler in the world, built a huge tower of baked bricks. God confounded the builders’ languages, and the work was never completed.”
Unfortunately, we are not able to establish where exactly this tapestry was created as the workshop mark has not been preserved. Weaving workshops of Brussels worked for the most affluent clients – popes and kings. Since these workshops were large enterprises employing from a few to a dozen or so skilled weavers, they were able to incur very high costs of textile production. Expensive materials – the best wool, often Spanish or English, silk and the costliest threads of gold and silver – constituted great expenses, not only for the workshop, but also for the customer.
The tapestry was commissioned by Sigismund II Augustus presumably around 1548; it was probably already in the ruler’s possession before 1560. In 1572, the king bequeathed the entire collection of tapestries to his sisters Sophia, Catherine and Anna in for life; after their death, it was to become the property of the Commonwealth.
This tapestry probably adorned the interior of Wawel Castle during the first wedding of Sigismund III Vasa to Anne of Austria in 1592, as well as his second wedding ceremony, to Constance of Austria, in 1605. It was probably also hung in the Collegiate Church of Saint John during the wedding of Władysław IV to Cecilia Renata in September 1637.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Poland License.
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