Lot and His Daughters

From the safety of the cave where they have taken refuge, Lot's daughters appear absorbed by an event taking place beyond the painting's borders-God's annihilation of the city of Sodom, burning in the distance. Believing that they alone survive to perpetuate the human race, the daughters have plied their father with alcohol, to aid their incestuous seduction of him. Each will later bear Lot a son: Moab and Ammon, the founders of tribes often pitted against Israel. Depictions of Lot and his Daughters were popular in seventeenth-century Europe because they provided a righteous context in which to illustrate a social taboo. The subject is often interpreted as a mere pretext for artists to engage w...