Lot's Daughters Fleeing Sodom

Art Historical Context

This striking drawing by Lucas Emil Vorsterman depicts the tale of Lot’s daughters the destruction of Sodom, a moment of urgency and divine judgment captured in form. Created between 1615 and 1620, the small sheet measures just 27.5 by 14.5 centimeters yet conveys dramatic movement through its careful arrangement of figures against the implied chaos of the burning city. Vorsterman executed the scene in black chalk with touches of pen and ink and white chalk highlights on tan laid paper. This combination of media allowed the artist to build rich tonal contrasts, model drapery and anatomy with subtle gradations, and add crisp linear details that suggest the work may have served as a preparatory study for an engraving. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection, the drawing offers visitors a glimpse into early seventeenth-century draftsmanship. Its intimate scale and refined technique highlight the expressive potential of chalk as a medium for exploring light, texture, and narrative tension in religious subjects.

About the Artist

Lucas Emil Vorsterman · 1595–1675

Lucas Vorsterman the Elder, also known as Lucas Emil Vorsterman (1595–1675), was a preeminent Flemish Baroque engraver renowned for his reproductive prints after the era's leading painters. Born in Zaltbommel in the Dutch province of Gelderland to a family of artists, his early life remains sparsely documented beyond the fact that he began practicing engraving at the age of twelve. Around 1617–161...