Landscape with church tower c. 1715 - 1719

Jean-Antoine Watteau sketched this landscape with church tower using red chalk. The tower, a symbol of stability and spiritual guidance, rises above the trees. Towers have always been associated with aspiration and connection to the divine. Think of the Tower of Babel, a symbol of mankind's ambition to reach the heavens, or the minarets in Islamic architecture, which also serve as a visual link between the earthly and the spiritual realms. The way Watteau captures the tower, with its uncertain, sketched lines, evokes the sensation of longing, reflecting perhaps the spiritual and social changes of his time. This collective memory, embedded deep in the psyche, is what engages us, stirring feelings of hope, reflection, and the eternal quest for meaning beyond our material existence. The recurring image of the tower in art speaks to the non-linear, continuous journey of human consciousness.