Lot and His Daughters

1530

Lucas van Leyden

(Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533)

Culture

Netherlands, 16th century

Medium

engraving

Measurements

Sheet: 18.8 x 24.4 cm (7 3/8 x 9 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1944.26

Catalogue raisonné

Hollstein X.68.16 ; Dutuit V.52.16

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The middle ground of this image depicts Lot leaving behind the salt-pillar figure of his wife with his two daughters trailing behind him. The nakedness of the figures and Lot's dejected posture echo representations of Adam and Eve being expelled from paradise.

Description

Few Old Testament stories are more morally charged than that of Lot and his daughters. After fleeing the city of Sodom, Lot’s wife disobeyed God and looked back at the city and was turned into a pillar of salt. Believing that they were the last humans on earth, Lot’s two daughters conspired to intoxicate their father with wine to conceive children with him. Lucas van Leyden’s interpretation takes license with the episode’s moral impropriety, doubling down on its erotic content by showing the daughters as naked temptresses and Lot, much younger than described, overwhelmed with desire.