Art, Symbol & Imagination
The Tower of Babel
An immense stepped tower rises above a crowded foreground of people and scattered masonry. The building’s broad terraces recede into cloud, while figures below gather in small, unsettled clusters. Doré uses the difference in scale to set collective ambition beside individual confusion. The caption identifies the tower of Babel, and the composition gives that narrative a monumental structure interrupted at its base. Raised arms and turned bodies make the crowd’s disagreement visible without requiring written speech.
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Citation
Gustave Doré (design). "The Tower of Babel" [editorial title]. In The Bible Gallery, Gustave Dore; Talbot W. Chambers. Undated Cassell & Company edition; one hundred illustrations with supplied descriptive letterpress, undated edition, Cassell & Company, Limited. Source scan leaf 33. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/bible-dore-32
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Complete plate reviewed against the scan; printed caption supplies subject. Crop excludes surrounding paper and separate caption without changing scan tone. Letterpress theology is not adopted as historical proof.
Sources
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The Bible GalleryGustave Dore; Talbot W. ChambersUndated editionMore from this book
All 98 illustrations
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Cite this illustration
Gustave Doré (design). The Tower of Babel. The Bible Gallery. Scan leaf 33. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/bible-dore-32