Lot and His Daughters

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Lot and His Daughters

Artist Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian, 1593-1652/53)

Place of OriginNaples, Italy

Dateabout 1636-1638

DimensionsPainting: 90 3/4 x 72 in. (230.5 x 182.9 cm);
Framed: 104 1/2 x 86 x 4 in. (265.4 x 218.4 x 10.2 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineClarence Brown Fund

Object number

1983.107

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 36

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesLurie, Anne T., Bernardo Cavallino of Naples 1616-1656, Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art,1984, no. 29, pp. 16-17, 107-109, repr. (entry by Nicola Spinosa).

Brenson, Michael, "Change Coexists with Tradition at Cleveland," New York Times, Dec. 16, 1984, section 2, p. 1. [as Cavallino]

Stevens, Mark, "Itay's Forgotten Giant," Newsweek, Jan. 7, 1985, p. 67.

"La chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 105, no. 1394, Mar. 1985, repr. p. 33 [as Cavallino].

Stoughton, Michael, "Fort Worth: Bernard Cavallino," Burlington, vol. 127, no. 984, Mar. 1985, p. 194, fig. 82. [as Artemisia Gentileschi]

Grabski, Jozef, "On seicento painting in Naples...," Artibus et Historiae, no. 11, 1985, pp. 23-40, repr.

Garrard, Mary D., Artemisia Gentileschi, Princeton, 1989, pp. 122-127, 516, nos. 214-217, fig. 116, pl. 24 (col.). [as Artemisia Gentileschi]

Contini, Roberto and Gianni Papi, Artemisia, Rome, 1991, pp. 79, 87, no. 86, fig. 65 [as Artimisia Gentileschi].

Stolzenwald, Susanna, Artemisia Gentileschi: Bindung und Befreiung in Leben und Werk einer Malerin, Stuttgart and Zurich, 1991, fig. 58, p. 94, (col.). [as Artemisia Gentileschi]

Garrard, Mary D., Artemisia Gentileschi, New York, 1993, pp. (6), (7), no. 16, pl. 12 (col.). [as Artemisia Gentileschi]

Fewell, Danna Nolan and David M. Gunn, Gender, Power & Promise: the Subject of the Bible's First Story, Nashville, 1993, repr. on cover (col.). [as Cavallino]

Bissell, R. Ward, Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art: Critical Reading and Catalogue Raisonne, University Park, 1999, pp. 82-86, 267-269, 276, 288, 335, figs. 163-166, pl. XX (col.). [Artemisia Gentileschi]

Christiansen, Keith and Judith Mann, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, pp. 256, 385, 404, 408-410, 426, 427, repr. p. 409 (col.).

Mann, Judith W., "Introduction: Taking Stock of Artemesia and Her Symposium," Artemesia Gentileschi: Taking Stock, Turnhout, Brepols, 2005, p. 10, 18 n. 10, fig. 10, p. 12.

Mann, Judith W., "The Myth of Artemisia as Chameleon: a New Look at the London 'Allegory of Painting'," Artemisia Gentileschi: Taking Stock, Turnhout, Brepols, 2005, p. 71, fig. 22, p. 70.

Lattuada, Riccardo and Eduardo Nappi, "New Documents and Some Remarks on Artemisia's Production in Naples and Elsewhere," Artemisia Gentileschi: Taking Stock, Turnhout, Brepols, 2005, pp. 87, 95 n., fig. 16, p. 88.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 161, repr. (col.).

Locker, Jesse M., Artemisia Gentileschi: The Language of Painting, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2015, pp. 114, 116, repr. (col.) p. 116, fig. 4.5.

Treves, Letizia, Artemisia, London, National Gallery Company Limited, 2020, p. 212-213, repr. (col.) p. 213.

Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum; Naples, Museo Pignatelli Cortes, Bernardo Cavallino of Naples 1616-1656, 1984, no. 29 (Only went to Cleveland venue).

Rome, Museo del Palazzo di Venezia; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Saint Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, 2001-2002 (Only traveled to New York and St. Louis venues).

Palazzo Braschi, the Museum of Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi, November 30, 2016-May 8, 2017.

London, The National Gallery, Artemisia: A Woman Artist in Baroque Italy, October 3, 2020-January 24, 2021.

Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy around 1600, September 30, 2021-May 21, 2022.

Label TextAccording to the Book of Genesis, the pious Lot and his family were advised by angels to flee the city of Sodom before God destroyed it for its sinfulness. Lot’s wife famously disobeyed God’s command not to look back at the burning city and was transformed into a pillar of salt (look for her in this painting). Believing their family the last people on earth, Lot’s daughters conspired to continue the human race by getting their father drunk and seducing him. The subject usually formed part of a series of biblical images of seduction, with the underlying theme of the power of women to lead men astray. Artemisia Gentileschi, however, toned down the overt sexuality of the story, giving her figures more dignity and a deeper psychological interaction. Though having worked in Rome, Florence, and Venice, by the time she painted Lot and His Daughters, Artemisia Gentileschi headed her own successful workshop in Naples. She was admired and imitated by many painters, including Bernardo Cavallino, to whom this painting was once attributed. Her powerful figures, rich colors, and dramatic compositions won her fame and commissions throughout Europe.