Description

The exceptionality of a work like this is well expressed in the caption describing the work: it is a painting of hexagonal format, quite unusual, and made through the technique of oil on wood. When Tiziano painted the Ecce Homo on the same support, he was effectively experimenting in the light of the revolution introduced in Italy by the advent of oil painting in the 16th century. Although oil on canvas was quicker to produce, lighter, and easier to transport, Italian painters were always looking for a way to innovate and provide a variatio on an established tradition.  A subject like this one, Lot and his daughters, is well suited to this kind of experimentation: the scene is immersed in gloomy darkness, from which only the bodies of the old man and the two girls emerge, and the fire that burns the sinful city of Sodom in the distance. This painting is well-balanced in its colouring and composition – not an obvious consideration given the atypical format – to which the painter pays more attention than the emotionality and sensual tension typical of depictions of this episode.