Background
Babel was the fourth son of a wealthy court clerk in Pfronten-Ried near Füssen in the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg (now Bavaria, Germany).
Babel was the fourth son of a wealthy court clerk in Pfronten-Ried near Füssen in the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg (now Bavaria, Germany).
Active mainly in Central Switzerland, he enjoyed an uncommonly long productive period that spanned the transitions from Late Baroque to Rococo and then to Neoclassicism. He probably spent time in Bohemia and with Joseph Päbel (1683–1742), another distantly related sculptor, in Saint Pölten. Although this is not documented, similarities in style and composition make it likely that he also trained in stucco with Diego Francesco Carloni between 1734 and 1740.
He is first recorded as a master sculptor in 1742 in Mimmenhausen.
Imfeld until 1754. At Einsiedeln Abbey, Babel created a cycle of sculptures that were to outshine all of his later work. The fame they brought him made him sought after by clients from all over Central Switzerland after 1754.
On account of his preeminence as a sculptor, he was admitted to the Einsiedeln Guild in 1777. About a year before his death in 1799, he had to witness the invading French troops vandalizing a great number of his sculptures on 3 May 1798.
The political and cultural upheavals after his death prevented him from having a substantial artistic following.
