Lot and his daughters, del Vaga (2024-03-05)

The patriarch Lot, portrayed as a bearded elderly man, grips the hands of his two daughters as they walk through a darkened landscape. In the background, the city of Sodom is consumed by intense fire and smoke, while the distant mountains provide a sense of depth and the goal of their escape. The figures are dressed in vibrant blue, green, and yellow tunics, rendered with the sculptural weight characteristic of the Roman High Renaissance.

This composition is based on the frescoes designed by Raphael and executed by Perino del Vaga for the Vatican Loggie. In the philosophical and Neoplatonic climate of the Renaissance, the flight of Lot was often allegorized as the soul's necessary departure from the 'cities of the plain' (representing the five senses or worldly corruption) toward spiritual higher ground.