Lot and His Daughters [reverse]

Lot and His Daughters [reverse] by Albrecht Dürer is an early and historically significant work, executed in oil on panel sometime between 1496 and 1499. This piece is a critical marker in the evolution of German art during the transitional period of 1401 to 1500, bridging late Gothic meticulousness with emerging Renaissance humanism. The painting is held in the prestigious collection of the National Gallery of Art.

The designation Lot and His Daughters [reverse] identifies this panel as the verso of a double-sided artwork. The obverse is known to be the celebrated Portrait of the Artist's Father (now housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence). The reverse depicts the biblical narrative from the Book of Genesis, wherein Lot and his two daughters escape the fiery destruction of the city of Sodom. Unlike many panel paintings intended solely for devotional use, the reverse of this work provides a direct link to the personal history and artistic network of Dürer himself, linking a formal portrait subject to a spiritual allegory.

Dürer, who would soon become the most recognized master of the Northern Renaissance, employed the painstaking detail characteristic of the German school in his handling of the oil medium. While the artist is globally celebrated for the technical mastery evident in his copperplate engravings and woodcut prints, this painting demonstrates his early skill in color application and figural composition. The work exhibits the clarity and linear emphasis often found in Dürer’s graphic work, translating his abilities as a draftsman to the painted surface. Due to the artwork’s age and historical importance, Dürer’s many compositions from this period are now widely considered part of the public domain, allowing for the study and dissemination of this foundational German artistic output worldwide.