Lot and his Daughters

Lot and his Daughters

Title

Lot and his Daughters

[cda 2024]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[unpublished examination report, Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

The story of Lot and his daughters was a popular subject for artists. The tale comes from the book of Genesis in the Old Testament and recounts how Lot and his family flee from the burning city of Sodom (which can be seen in the background on the left). Lot

The story of Lot and his daughters was a popular subject for artists. The tale comes from the book of Genesis in the Old Testament and recounts how Lot and his family flee from the burning city of Sodom (which can be seen in the background on the left). Lot is shown seated in front of a cave holding a glass and is flanked by his two daughters. According to the story they make their father drunk and seduce him in an attempt to ensure that he has male heirs. The one on his left has a flask ready to pour. Lot’s wife is visible in the background and has already been transformed into a pillar of salt.

[cda 2024]

Attribution
Antonius Heusler

Attribution

Antonius Heusler

[unpublished examination report Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

Production date
about 1540 - 1550

Production date

about 1540 - 1550

[unpublished examination report Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

Dimensions
Maße Bildträger: 46,2 × 36,2 cm

Dimensions

  • Maße Bildträger: 46,2 × 36,2 cm

  • [unveröffentlichter Untersuchungsbericht Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

  • Dimensions of support: 46.2 × 36.2 cm

  • [unpublished examination report Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the bottom right: Monogram 'A H' (linked)

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the bottom right: Monogram 'A H' (linked)

Inscriptions and Labels
  • at the top centre right, in yellow paint:
    'Im ersten buch Mosi am Neunzehenden La. | Und Lott zoch …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • at the top centre right, in yellow paint:

  • 'Im ersten buch Mosi am Neunzehenden La. | Und Lott zoch aus zoar [?] Da sprach die eltist | zu der iungsten/vnser vater ist alt/vn ist kein | man mehr auff erden der vns beschlaffen mug | nach aller welt weise sokom las vns vnserm | vater wein zu tricken gebe vnd mit | ijm truncken werden'

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • On the reverse: - paper label, handwritten: '6323–170 / 138–83142'

  • [unpublished examination report Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

Owner
Private Collection
Repository
Private Collection
CDA ID
PRIVATE_NONE-P642
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P642/

Provenance

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Auct. Cat. Vienna 2024 22 007 pl. p. 23
EditorDorotheum Auktionshaus
TitleDorotheum. Old Master Paintings, 24.04.2024 [Palais Dorotheum, Vienna]
Place of PublicationVienna
Year of Publication2024
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

There is a similar version in the museum in Braunschweig.

[E-mail correspondance, G. Heydenreich to A. Strasoldo, Dorotheum, Vienna, 17.09.2023]

Heusler presumably worked in the Cranach workshop in Wittenberg before acquiring a house in Annaberg in 1525 and opening his own workshop there. According to current research, Heusler's earliest signed paintings are dated 1534.

Similar depictions of Lot and his daughters by the Cranach workshop from around 1528 have survived. In 1539, the Cranach workshop completed the so-called Schneeberg Retable with a depiction of Lot and his daughters. Annaberg is only about 30 km from Schneeberg, meaning that Heusler could have studied Cranach's pictorial inventions over a longer period of time and in different locations.

[unpublished examination report, Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

Evaluation of the examination results

Assessment of the support is precluded by recent repairs. The underdrawing is similar to other works attributed to Antonius Heusler. The pigments found were used in the Middle Ages, in the early modern period and in more recent times. Lead-tin yellow was in use until around 1750 and was only rediscovered around 1940. The arsenic sulphide pigment, which is less common in European panel painting, could be mineral or synthetic orpiment mixed with red pigment (red lead, vermilion?) or realgar. Arsenic sulphides were produced in large quantities in the Erzgebirge in the 16th century and traded in Leipzig, so that Antonius Heusler was probably able to acquire this pigment in Annaberg. Some of the pigments used could not be identified.

The stylistic characteristics and the painting technique are similar to those found on other paintings confirmed to be by Antonius Heusler. A comparison with the signed paintings reveals similarities in the modulation of flesh paint, using accents of light, the representation of the eyes with highlights on the pupils and the depiction of the hair with overlapping lines and a dry paint application.

This painting seems to be signed with the letters ‘AH’. A date could not be verified. It is probably a work by the Annaberg painter Antonius Heusler from around 1540/1550.

[unpublished examination report, Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

  • Lot and his Daughters, about 1540 - 1550

Images

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Technical studies

28.01.2024Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • created by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • created by Diana Blumenroth

28.01.2024Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • X-radiography
  • Stereomicroscopy
  • Other imaging techniques

Support

The support is a wooden panel thinned to a thickness of approx. 1 mm in recent times with vertical grain. The wood species of the support has not yet been determined.

Ground and Imprimatura

There is a white ground on the support. No barbes are preserved at the edges. Fine parallel indentations are partially visible in the ground. These could be marks from a toothed blade used to smooth it.

Underdrawing

In the infrared reflectogram the lines of the underdrawing lines are visibel and appear to have been executed with a liquid black medium and brush. Outlines and essential details are described with sweeping lines. Volumes and shadows are partly indicated with parallel hatching. The underdrawing appears sketchy. Corrections to individual forms were made during the painting process, but no changes to the composition during the underdrawing are evident.

Paint Layers and Gilding

Using XRF, the following elements were detected and in conjunction with their optical characteristics the following pigments were identified:

M1 yellow inscription: Ca, Pb, Sn, Fe, (Cu)

Ca: chalk/gypsum (?); Pb: lead white (?); Pb/ Sn: lead-tin yellow; Fe: iron oxide/ ochre (?)

M2 orange hair: Pb, As, Ca, Fe, Hg (Cu)

Pb: lead white/ red lead (?); As: iron sulfide pigment; Ca: chalk/ gypsum (?); Fe: iron oxide/ ochre; Hg: vermilion

M3 blue: Cu, Pb, Ca, Fe

Cu: blue containing copper (azurite); Pb: lead white, Ca: chalk/ gypsum (?), Fe: iron oxide/ ochre (?)

M4 orange: Pb, As, Ca, Fe, Hg (Cu)

Pb: lead white/ red lead; As: iron sulfide pigment; Ca: chalk/ gypsum (?); Fe: iron oxide/ ochre; Hg: vermilion

M5 yello signature: Ca, Pb, Fe, Sn, (Cu)

Ca: chalk/gypsum (?); Pb: lead white (?); Pb/ Sn: lead-tin yellow; Fe: iron oxide/ ochre (?)

The following pigments were identified in the paint layer: Lead white, lead-tin yellow, arsenic sulphide pigment (realgar and/or orpiment), vermilion and azurite.

The paint was applied in several layers, ranging from opaque to translucent, using various brushes. For example, the dark red velvet trimming on the daughter's dress on Lot's left and the daughter's green robe on Lot's right were laid in using dark grey paint. The flesh paint is subtly modulated in several layers using varying shades of pink and greyish paint. Orange-red paint (yellow arsenic sulphide mixed with red pigment or / and red arsenic sulphide) was used to draw, among other things, the raised areas on the brocade robe, the decorative elements in the hair of the daughter on Lot's right and the folds in her light red robe. The inscription is executed in lead-tin yellow. Significant changes to the composition during the painting process are not visible in the x-ray image.

The painting is signed at the lower edge with the letters "AH" (linked) in yellow. Using XRF, lead-tin yellow could be identified. There is nothing to suggest that the insignia ws added at a later date.

[unpublished examination report, Heydenreich, Blumenroth, 28.01.2024]

Condition Reports

Date28.01.2024

The painting is in a damaged and unstable condition.

Support:

  • the panel was thinned approx. 1 mm in recent times and glued to a new oak panel (thickness approx. 12 mm, several boards with a veneer on the back).

  • it has been trimmed on all four sides

  • there are several vertical splits in the thinned wooden support

Paint layer:

  • there are numerous very small paint losses over the entire surface.

  • retouching is visible in UV light, particularly in the areas where the support is split.

  • examined by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • examined by Diana Blumenroth

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Lot and his Daughters', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P642/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Lot and his Daughters', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P642/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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