Artwork
Lot and His Daughters [reverse]
![Lot and His Daughters [reverse], by Albrecht Dürer, oil, 1498](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/albrecht-durer--lot-and-his-daughters-reverse--b4ebf9b282faa17a-w1024.webp)
Lot and His Daughters [reverse] is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. It dates from 1498 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:center left on rock in monogram: AD
About this work
Subject & Meaning
A religious painting by Albrecht Dürer created around 1498, the subject focuses on the patriarch Lot accompanied by his two daughters.
The work depicts the biblical narrative of Lot and his daughters, a story from the Book of Genesis. A religious painting by Albrecht Dürer created around 1498, the subject focuses on the patriarch Lot accompanied by his two daughters. The iconography centers on Lot as the primary figure, illustrating the specific episode involving him and his offspring.
While the painting serves as a religious artwork, the visual narrative is defined by these three characters. The depiction aligns with the artist's early career output in Nuremberg, presenting a solemn interpretation of the scriptural account without additional symbolic elements explicitly detailed in the available records.
Technique & Style
Lot and His Daughters [reverse] is executed in oil on panel, a medium standard for Dürer's paintings of the 1490s. The work measures 52.4 cm in height by 42.2 cm in width, a modest vertical panel format consistent with private devotional commissions of the period. As the reverse of a panel painting, the surface bears heraldic devices at the lower left and lower right, including a Haller family coat-of-arms whose orientation is reversed so that it properly 'respects' the presumed wife's family arms at the opposite corner. The sources do not provide further detail on underdrawing, pigment layering, glazes, ground preparation, or current condition.
History & Provenance
The work titled Lot and His Daughters [reverse] was created by Albrecht Dürer around 1498 as an oil painting on panel, commissioned likely by a Nuremberg patrician of the Haller family, as suggested by the coat-of-arms in the lower left and by contemporary records indicating Haller ownership. Its early ownership passed through the Haller lineage, then the Praun family, and later Charles à Court Repington before being sold at Christie's in 1932 to Mrs. Phyllis Loder. The painting entered the collection of Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza by 1934, was consigned to Knoedler & Co. in 1950, and was acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1952. The work measures 52.4 × 42.2 cm and is catalogued in the National Gallery of Art's collection.
The reverse panel of Lot and His Daughters is held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it resides as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection. The work entered the museum in 1952 as a gift by exchange from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, following its acquisition by the foundation in 1950. Prior to this, the painting was part of the collection of Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza at Villa Favorita in Lugano-Castagnola by 1934.
Earlier provenance links it to the Haller family of Nuremberg, possibly through Paul von Praun, and later to Charles à Court Repington and Mrs. Phyllis Loder. The provided sources do not list specific exhibition histories or accession numbers for this work.
Context
The work is an early oil-on-panel painting by Albrecht Dürer, produced around 1498 and classified as a religious composition that illustrates the biblical story of Lot. Its subject forms part of Dürer's broader investigation of narrative scenes that bridge late-Gothic tradition and emerging Renaissance humanism, a theme examined in German-painting catalogues of the period. The painting entered the National Gallery of Art collection through the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1952, having previously belonged to the Thyssen-Bornemisza family.
Scholarship on Dürer's oeuvre cites the work in systematic catalogues, underscoring its significance within the artist's early narrative output.
Overview
Albrecht Dürer's oil painting, Lot and His Daughters [reverse], created around 1498, presents a dramatic biblical narrative. Executed on a wooden panel, this work illustrates the Old Testament account of Lot and his family. The painting is notable for its early exploration of this specific religious subject within Dürer's oeuvre, reflecting his engagement with complex scriptural themes.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Albrecht Dürer spent his life in Nuremberg, a busy German city where artists traded prints like currency.
![Madonna and Child [obverse], by Albrecht Dürer](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/albrecht-durer--madonna-and-child-obverse--d7b8ebf05d22ebe5-w320.webp)
