Lot and His Family Leaving Sodom
Attributed to Hendrik van Steenwyck Now in the Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York State
Lot and his family leaving Sodom, attributed to Hendrik van Steenwyck (1550-1603)
The picture illustrates the moment when two angels lead Lot and his two daughters from the burning city of Sodom, destroyed by God on account of the wickedness of its inhabitants. His wife stands gazing at the destruction, before she is turned into a pillar of salt as a punishment for looking back.
Due to religious persecution Hendrik van Steenwyck the Elder was forced to flee his native Holland for Aix-La -Chapelle where he trained under Hans de Vries. After a period in Antwerp he eventually settled in Frankfurt. This picture illustrates the artists talent at depicting light in night scenes. It is also a good example of the type of (almost) contemporary Dutch or Flemish painting found in the 1st Duke of Hamilton's collection. It was probably acquired earlier in the 1630s when Hamilton was abroad in Germany and the Netherlands before he acquired his prestigious additional Venetian painting collections between 1636-1638. For fifteen months from 1631-32 he was a volunteer with the army of Gustavus Adolphus and was in Frankfurt in 1631.
The painting may be listed in the following inventories:
Hamilton Inventory M4/20 Entry 215
Hamilton Inventory M4/21 - Case 32 or Case 38
Hamilton Inventory M4/22 - Case 38 or 'In the Closet'
It may also be “218 a Dutch peice of Lott and his 2 daughters” listed in the Great Bed Chamber of Kinneil Castle or House in the 1704 Hamilton Inventory M4/42/ entry 218.
It is definitely listed in the 1759 and 1793 Hamilton Palace inventories, M4/48/p.18 (1759) and M4/51/p.12 (1793), and in the 1882 Illustrated Priced catalogue.
The painting now in Elmira has the handwritten number 327 on its reverse. This can clearly be matched to the entries "327 The burning of Sodom on Timber" in the 1759 Hamilton Palace Inventory (M4/48,p.18) and "327 The burning of Sodom on timber" in the 1793 Hamilton Palace inventory (M4/51,p.12). In both these inventories 327 is described as being in the billiard room at Hamilton Palace. The Elmira painting is almost certainly mentioned in a number of inventories of pictures belonging to the 3rd Marquis, later 1st Duke of Hamilton, in the 1630s and 1640s. For example, there are four pictures of this subject in an inventory dating from after 1638 ( M4/20 entries 10, 110, 128, and 215). Entry 215 is attributed to Steenwyck and is described as “One little peice of Lott and his 2 daughters, with Sodom afarre of Burninge, of Stenwicke:/ ." This is probably the painting listed in the 1759 and 1793 Hamilton Palace inventories.
Pictures of this subject appear in other inventories associated with the 1st Duke namely M4/21 (before 1643) and M4/22 (same period) packed in cases to be evacuated from London during the Civil War. Two pictures of the subject are to be found in both inventories - in Case 32 and Case 38 in M4/21 and in Case 38 and with those formerly 'In the Closet' in M4/22. Pictures with this subject matter might also be linked to the following other inventories below and may be references to this painting which left the Hamilton collection in 1882 when it was sold to Matthias H Arnot. - 1882 Illustrated Priced Catalogue Page 141, Cat 1057
