Bulletin 14, 1969

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Orazio Gentileschi and the 
Theme of "Lot and Bis Daughters"

by R. Ward Bissell

Pages  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8 

4 AVIGNON, PAMARD COLLECTION, late 18th century

Accarding ta Isarla, p. 144. The picture in the Le Brun sale in 1791? (see entry above and Pérez Sanchez, p. 503). 

5 LONDON, CHARLES I COLLECTION

Joachim von Sandrart saw the painting in London: "No less important was one of Lot sleeping on the lap of one of his daughters, while the other daughter looked back on her father's activity, a wondrous work, incapable of improvement" (Academie der Bau-, Bild- and Mahlerey-Künste von 1675, ed. Peltzer, Munich, 1925, p. 166). It is implied that Gentileschi executed the canvas during Sandrart's stay in London, i.e., between April 1628 and the fall of the same year O. Hess in Kunstgeschichtliche Studien zu Renaissance und Earock, vol. II, Rome, 1967, p. 242, for the date of Sandrart's visit). Undoubtedly the painting listed by Gerbier in his report of 12 September 1629(?) on "The Sommes of Monnys Gentilesco Hath Recaeved :" "The Picture he hath maide in Englant of Lott, that wich the King hath" (Sainsbury, p. 315). Engraved by Lucas Vorstermann, in England between 1624 and 1630 (A. von Wurzbach, Niederliindisches Künstler-Lexikon, vol. II, Vienna and Leipzig, 1910, pp. 814-15). At Greenwich in the Queen's Withdrawing Chamber when catalogued by Van der Doort between 1637 and 1639: "don bij oracio gintiliscko. ill prijmos a larg pis auff lot and his 2 doehters Wij Was rellufft vrall Wijthal" ("Catalogue of the Collections of Charles I," ed. o. Millar, Walpole Society, vol. XXXVII, 1958-60, p. 194). At Greenwich, 1649: "Lott and his two dauhters - at - 80.00.00" (Pictures of King Charles I, London, P. R. O., L. R. 2/124, f. 60r). Sold to the Dividend of Charles I's creditors headed by William Latham, 1651: "A Peece of pharaohs Daughter finding Moses done by Genteliscoe 80. Sold Mr. Wm. Latholl &c in a Dividend as Aprised 23 Oct. 1651. Lott and his two Daughters 80 Sold Mr. Latholl &c Ditto" Chettle, p. 36). Mr Latham, Woollen-Draper to James I and Charles I, headed the 4th Dividend, composed of himself and fourteen others, which purchased thirty-five paintings, to be divided by lot along the members, each of whom then had free rights to the picture or pictures he had thus obtained (W. L. F. Nuttall, "King Charles I's Pictures and the Commonwealth Sale," Apollo, vol. LXXII, 1965, pp. 302 ff.).

In Appendix I, 4, I have proposed that the Lot and His Daughters later entered the collection of the Marqués del Carpio (see next entry) and is today in the Museo de Bellas Artes at Bilbao.  

6 SPAIN, MARQUÉS DEL CARPIO; CASA DE ALBA

Appears in a list of paintings formerly belonging to D. Luis Méndez de Haro y Guzman, Marqués del Carpio, and his son D. Gaspar de Guzman, Marqués del Carpio y de Heliche, which were inherited by the Casa de Alba: "Un lienzo apaisado de tres varas y media. Representa a Lot y sus hijas. Original de Oratius Gentilius. Excelente" (Barcia, Catdlogo, 191I, p. 250; Pérez sanchez, p. 503). The oblong canvas thus measured approximately 292 cm. (115 in.) in width. It was not among the pictures which passed to the Duque de Berwick y de Liria after the litigation involving the inheritance of the 13th Duchess of Alba, who died without issue in 1802 (Barcia, 1911, pp. 17, 254-8). The Marqués del Carpio (and then the Alba) also owned an Apollo and the Muses by Gentileschi: "Un lienzo de tres varas y media de alto. Apolo y las musas. Original de Oratius Gentilius" (Barcia, 1911, p. 252; Pérez sanchez, p. 504). The Apollo and the Muses was unquestionably a painting from Orazio's English period. when in London, Gentileschi represented this theme at least twice, and possibly three times, including a version for Charles I which was framed in 1633-4, displayed in Somerset House in 1649, and sold on 23 October 1651 (Chettle, p. 104; Pictures of Charles I, London, P. R. O., L. R. 2 / 124, f. 192V; B. M. Hari. 4898, f. 231, no.286). It may be related to the canvas which was formerly in the Lawlor collection at New York (R. Longhi, "Ultimi studi sul Caravaggio e la sua cerchia," Proporzioni, vol. I, 1943, p. 47, n. 38; G. Isarlo in Arts, 29 June 1951, p. 8; l. Hess, "Die Gemalde des Orazio Gentileschi für das 'Haus der Konigin' in Greenwich," English Miscellany, vol. III, 1952, pp. 160, n. 9 and 163; G. Isarlo, Les indépendants dans la peinture ancienne, Paris, 1956, p. 114, fig. 52). I believe that the Lot and His Daughters also belonged originally to Charles I of England (App. II, 5) and is today in the Museo de Bellas Artes at Bilbao (see App. I, 4).

7 SPAIN, JOSÉ MADRAZO COLLECTION

Marqués de Leganés(?); Altamira Coll. (Madrazo, Catá logo, 1856, pp. 39-40, no.152); José Madrazo Coll., Madrid, with measurements of 176 x 253 cm., or 69 1/4 x 99 5/8 in. (ibid.); passed to the Marqués de Salamanca (Pérez Sanchez, p. 66; López Navio, pp. 261,266). The painting was accompanied in the Madrazo collection by a version of Gentileschi's Rest on the Flight into Egypt, said to have been a gift of the Cardinal of Savoy to the Marqués de Leganés (and thence to the Altamira Coll.; Madrazo, 1856, p. 40, no.153). The Rest on the Flight appears without attribution in the Leganés inventory of 6 April 1655, where the provenance from the Cardinal of Savoy is also claimed (López Navio, p. 315, no. 1112). The available evidence suggests that the Lot and His Daughters also belonged to the Marqués de Leganés, for in spite of the apparent size discrepancies it seems possible to recognize it in the Leganés catalogue as "un lienço de 2 baras y media, de las hijas de lot y su padre, quando le embriagaron, le taso en 3.000" (ibid., p. 300, no.758). The Lot as described in the Madrazo Catalogue (Lot embriagado por sus hijas. Estân estas sentadas en tierra y mirando el fuego de las ciudades incendiadas que se descubre en lontananza. Lot está dormido, recostado sobre una di ellas) was obviously most similar in type to the composition at Rurghley House (fig. 10; App. I, 3). Roth the Lot and His Daughters and the Rest on the Flight may have been products of Gentileschi's Italian period, since the Marqués de Leganés appears to have bought the majority of his Italian pictures during his tenure as Governor of Milan (I635 - January 1641; López Navio, p. 264).

As this issue of the Bulletin was in preparation, a canvas (169 x 253 cm., or 66 1/2 x 99 5/8 in.) of Lot and His Daughters turned up in Spain and has been acquired by the Gemäalde-galerie, Rerlin-Dahlem (fig. 9). Professor Pérez sanchez, who has seen the original, believes that it can be identified as the Madrazo version, and has commented (by letter) that "it is unquestionably by his [Orazio Gentileschi's) hand, and is very beautiful." Extremely close to the Lot by Gentileschi that was formerly in Genoa (App. I, I; II, I), the picture must have an Italian provenance. The author and the editor wish to express their gratitude to Professor Pérez sanchez for his generous help in tracing this picture and providing the photograph. 

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