Lot and His Daughters. Engraved by Jan Harmensz Muller (1571–1628), published by Harmen Jansz. Muller (ca. 1540-1617), ca. 1600. Engraving. II/IV. Inscribed below image: Dùm flammâ patriam cernunt cecidisse voraci, / Extinctumque putant omne virile genus: / Largius en solito siffundunt pocla parenti / Lothiades, fallant quo simul arte senem. / Ô laudanda magis quàm condemnada voluptas, / Quae petit amplexus, prolis amore, pios! Graphic Arts Collection.
For this engraving, Muller took as his subject Genesis 19:30-38, which reads in one translation:
Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[a]; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi[b]; he is the father of the Ammonites[c] of today.
The Graphic Arts Collection has the second of four states, printed and published with his father Harmen Jansz. Muller (ca. 1540-1617). We know this because of the description of Muller’s four states at catalogue number 64 in J. P. Filedt Kok, The Muller Dynasty, compiled by Jan Piet Filedt Kok; edited by Ger Luijten, Christiaan Schuckman; introduction by Harriet Stroomberg; [appendix by Erik Hinterding] (Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive in co-operation with the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1999- ). Marquand Library (SA) NE667 .F544 1999
A painted version of this scene also exists in a private collection. There is no indication which came first, the engraving or the oil.
