Guido Reni | Lot and his Daughters leaving Sodom | NG193

About the work

Lot and his daughters are shown fleeing the sinful city of Sodom, forewarned by God of its destruction (Genesis 19). The family are in a moment of conversation, perhaps contemplating their next move. Conspicuously absent are details typically associated with the subject, such as Sodom burning in the background or elements of eroticism, alluding to the daughters' later seduction of their father (an attempt to continue their family’s bloodline). Instead, the trio are fully clothed, sober and chaste.

This painting was made around the time of Reni’s celebrated Aurora fresco in Rome, where he lived and worked for more than a decade; the statuesque figures and solid handling of paint are illustrative of the style that he had developed there. Since the mid-seventeenth century, this painting has been regarded as a companion piece to Susannah and the Elders (also in the National Gallery’s collection). Though similar in format and both illustrating moralising tales, the two were painted a few years apart, and were not originally intended as a pair.

Key facts

Full title: Lot and his Daughters leaving Sodom
Artist: Guido Reni
Artist dates: 1575 - 1642
Part of the series: Two Biblical Scenes from Palazzo Lancellotti
Date made: about 1614-15
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 111.2 × 149.2 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1844
Inventory number: NG193
Location: Room 32
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 17th-century Italian Frame

About this record

If you know more about this work or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

About the series: Two Biblical Scenes from Palazzo Lancellotti

Guido Reni, 'Lot and his Daughters leaving Sodom', about 1614-15

Lot and his Daughters Leaving Sodom and Susannah and the Elders are two works by Guido Reni, both of which depict biblical scenes containing three figures. They are of similar size, and are painted in a horizontal format with dark backgrounds. The two were first recorded in the Palazzo Lancellotti, Rome, in 1640, where they hung together as companion pieces until they were respectively acquired by the National Gallery in 1844.

Upon their acquisition the works were considered to be a pair, given their similarly moralising subject matter, size, and location in the Palazzo Lancellotti. However, cleaning revealed brushwork that suggests the paintings were created in different periods of Reni’s career, and were not made to hang together.

Because the two Old Testament subjects illustrate feminine vice and virtue, the pairing would seem to be deliberate. It’s possible that Reni painted Susannah and the Elders to accompany his earlier work, but it’s similarly plausible that the pairing was made by a collector much later.

Lot and his Daughters leaving Sodom

Guido Reni

Room 32

Susannah and the Elders

Guido Reni

An apocryphal addition to the Old Testament describes how two lecherous elders threatened to accuse Susannah, a beautiful young woman, of adultery – a crime punishable by death – if she did not give in to their desires. Guido Reni here illustrates the episode: one man grabs at Susannah’s robes an...

Room 32