Bruegel’s ‘The Tower of Babel’ and Great 16th Century Masters

Although Renaissance great Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569) is the only 'master' mentioned in the title of this extensive overview of 16th-century Dutch painting, it is most likely the work of the fanatically fascinating Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) that will draw crowds to the Metropolitan Art Museum between April and July. Bridging the medieval and Renaissance worlds with highly detailed, often dark and frightening pieces in which visions of hell and demons figure prominently, Bosch shocked his contemporaries and had a massive influence on artists of subsequent generations, including Bruegel. This legacy can be seen in the latter's 1563 masterpiece 'The Tower of Babel' – one of the around 90 paintings, prints, sculptures and other works from the collection of Rotterdam's Museum Boijmans that are set to be displayed here.