Lot and his Daughters

Leonhard Kern

17th century · Spindlewood · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

After their home in Sodom was destroyed, Lot and his two daughters fled to the mountains, where the girls concluded that their only hope of procreating was with their own father (Genesis 19:30-38). This group shows one of them plying him with wine to achieve her goal; her sister turns away in shame. The scene was popular with artists, its scandalous nature being justified by its biblical source. Like the nearby Standing Woman, this work is carved from a soft wood; its generalized details differ from those of the more incisively cut boxwood sculpture of Christ at the Column beside it.

Artist

Leonhard Kern

Date

17th century

Medium

Spindlewood

Culture

German

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931