The Fire of Sodom, Lot and His Daughters, Flemish Old Master Oil on Panel, Close to Gillis Mostaert, Framed

The Destruction of Sodom with Lot and His Daughters Fleeing

A city burns in the background under a sky filled with smoke and sulfurous light, its towers collapsing into flame. In the foreground, Lot sits with his two daughters in a rocky landscape, separated from the destruction behind them. One daughter turns toward her father while the other looks outward, the red and orange glow of the distant fire reflected on their skin and clothing. The composition divides sharply between the apocalyptic ruin of Sodom and the still, human scene in the foreground. The palette moves from deep browns and greens in the rocks and vegetation to intense reds and yellows in the burning city, with a column of pale smoke rising into the upper register.

Flemish Biblical Landscape Painting at the Turn of the 17th Century

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a popular subject among Flemish painters in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Artists in Antwerp and Brussels combined landscape painting with biblical narrative, placing small human figures in vast, dramatic settings. The tradition drew on the innovations of Joachim Patinir and Herri met de Bles, who had established the "world landscape" format in the early 1500s. By the 1590s, painters such as Gillis Mostaert and his circle were producing compact panels that paired carefully observed natural detail with scenes of divine punishment. These works were made for private collectors and often displayed alongside other Old Testament subjects. The use of oil on wood panel, sometimes assembled from two plates joined together, was standard workshop practice in the Southern Netherlands during this period.