An outstanding work in Francesco Furini’s oeuvre and one of the most sensual and morbid of all Italian Baroque paintings, Lot and his daughters, c.1634, depicts the Old Testament story of Lot (Genesis 19:30-38), who escaped the destruction of Sodom thanks to a warning from the angels charged with its obliteration. Lot’s wife, who failed to obey their order not to look back, was turned into a pillar of salt, while Lot made a new home with his daughters in a cave. Having lost their respective husbands when Sodom perished, the two daughters decided to inebriate their elderly father and have sex with him in order to assure the continuance of their lineage.

This theme permitted Baroque painters to legitimately depict nude women in sensual poses, and such works became very popular in seventeenth-century Florence. Among the numerous versions of this account, Furini’s stands out for its original approach, devoid of moralistic censure. The composition lacks any specific spatial setting, focusing instead on the more-than-half-length figures of its three protagonists, which occupy almost the entire painting. That effect would originally have been even more accentuated, as the background canvas was extended on the upper and left sides before the end of the seventeenth century. The similarity between Lot’s figure and one of the saints on a panel from the altar of the Virgin of the Rosary at the church of Santo Stefano in Empoli, which Furini painted in 1634, makes it possible to date the Prado’s work. Both nudes are highly naturalistic and reveal the artist’s precise knowledge of the works of Antiquity, especially the Medici Venus, first century BC, a Hellenistic statue at the Uffizi, Florence.

The relationships between the three characters are expressed through the use of typically Baroque gestures. With vacant eyes, Lot rests his hands on his daughters’ shoulder and back, respectively. His daughter on the right holds a silver bottle in one hand and offers a goblet to her father with the other. Her sister gently lower’s Lot’s clothes, touching his chest while looking at him with an insinuating gaze. This work is a fine example of Furini’s oeuvre, as his biblical and mythological paintings often included many idealised naked forms, which brought him success in select Florentine circles. Also very characteristic of this artist is the glow that seems to emanate from the nude bodies. Unlike the directed and external light in Caravaggio’s works, which defines volume, Furini’s chiaroscuro emerges from a luminescent force then extends like a sort of mist, obscuring the background. The vibrant lapis lazuli background is also characteristic of Furini, who used it to emphasise the sensuality of his figures’ exquisite white skin.

This work bears witness to a sensitive observation of life, accentuating the delicate, tactile sensation of the bodies. A good illustration of Furini’s attention to detail is the slight redness of the joints and the pale reflection along the inside of the left arm of the daughter whose back is turned to the viewer. There are also many subtle details, such as the manner in which the latter’s reddish hair is reinforced by its darker red ribbon, or the lock that escapes from the other sister’s pulled-back hair, casting its shadow on her cheek. The painting was almost certainly commissioned around 1634 by Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who gave it to Philip IV of Spain when he married Mariana of Austria in 1649. In 1701 it was at the Buen Retiro Palace, Madrid, and in 1792 Charles IV ordered it to be moved, with other nudes, to a private room at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. From there it entered the Museo del Prado in 1827.

Pancorbo, A, Francesco Furini 'Lot and his daughters' En:. Italian masterpieces from Spain's royal court, Museo del Prado, National Gallery of Victoria Thames & Hudson, 2014, p.170