20 Crucifixion Group with Christ and Mary Magdalene

Christ Crucified Georg Petel*

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RELIEF WITH LOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS

DANIEL NEUBERGER THE YOUNGER Augsburg, 1621-1674/81, attributed to

Mid 17th century

Polychrome wax relief with partial gilding Height: 41.8 cm, width: 32.5 cm Within the original frame, height: 62 cm, width: 52 cm

Literature: Lipinska, Aleksandra. Moving Sculptures: Southern Netherlandish Alabasters from the 16th to 17th centuries in Central and Northern Europe, Leiden 2015, pp. 259-60, fig. 184. McGrath, Maeve. Daniel Neuberger the Younger and Anna Felicitas Neuberger. The Ciroplastic Œuvres 1621-1680 and 1650-1731, Regensburg 2016, p. 82, fig. 24 and pp. 164-66, no. 6.

Related literature: Lessmann, Johanna and König-Lein, Susanne. Wachsarbeiten des 16. bis 20. Jahrhunderts, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum Braunschweig, Sammlungskatalog Band IX, Braunschweig 2002. The scene is erotically laden: two scantily clad young women have a rendezvous with an elderly man. One is holding a jug filled with wine; the other places her arm around the old figure who is obviously already drunk, as he approaches her with a lecherous look in his eye. The beauty, with a gossamer cloth draped over her thigh and arm that wraps around her body like a snake, has a Venus-like appearance – not only to the man at her side but, and in particular, to the viewer of this skillfully worked relief. The other female figure, also dressed like a goddess from Antiquity, is depicted in profile. She reveals her sensuously bared back, arm and shoulder as well as her right leg.

What is actually shown here, however, is the story of Lot as described in the Book of Genesis, chapter 19:30-38. Lot has fled the lost city of Sodom together with his wife and his two daughters. During the escape from Sodom, Lot‘s wife turns into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters take shelter in Zoar, but afterwards go up into the mountains to live in a cave. One evening, Lot‘s eldest daughter gets Lot drunk and has sex with him without his knowledge. The following night, the younger daughter does the same. They both become pregnant; the older daughter gives birth to Moab, while the younger daughter gives birth to Ammon.

Lot’s daughters see things pragmatically. As the only female survivors of the catastrophe, the destruction of Sodom, they are afraid that they are the last in the human race. In their desperation they decide to weaken their father’s will by plying him with wine before having intercourse with his own offspring.

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1 Cf. exh. cat., Vienna 2006, p. 164 and note 26.

The scene is erotically laden: two scantily clad young women have a rendezvous with an elderly man. One is holding a jug filled with wine; the other places her arm around the old figure who is obviously already drunk, as he approaches her with a lecherous look in his eye. The beauty, with a gossamer cloth draped over her thigh and arm that wraps around her body like a snake, has a Venus-like appearance – not only to the man at her side but, and in particular, to the viewer of this skillfully worked relief. The other female figure, also dressed like a goddess from Antiquity, is depicted in profile. She reveals her sensuously bared back, arm and shoulder as well as her right leg.

What is actually shown here, however, is the story of Lot as described in the Book of Genesis, chapter 19:30-38. Lot has fled the lost city of Sodom together with his wife and his two daughters. During the escape from Sodom, Lot‘s wife turns into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters take shelter in Zoar, but afterwards go up into the mountains to live in a cave. One evening, Lot‘s eldest daughter gets Lot drunk and has sex with him without his knowledge. The following night, the younger daughter does the same. They both become pregnant; the older daughter gives birth to Moab, while the younger daughter gives birth to Ammon.

Lot’s daughters see things pragmatically. As the only female survivors of the catastrophe, the destruction of Sodom, they are afraid that they are the last in the human race. In their desperation they decide to weaken their father’s will by plying him with wine before having intercourse with his own offspring. The scene is erotically laden: two scantily clad young women have a rendezvous with an elderly man. One is holding a jug filled with wine; the other places her arm around the old figure who is obviously already drunk, as he approaches her with a lecherous look in his eye. The beauty, with a gossamer cloth draped over her thigh and arm that wraps around her body like a snake, has a Venus-like appearance – not only to the man at her side but, and in particular, to the viewer of this skillfully worked relief. The other female figure, also dressed like a goddess from Antiquity, is depicted in profile. She reveals her sensuously bared back, arm and shoulder as well as her right leg.

What is actually shown here, however, is the story of Lot as described in the Book of Genesis, chapter 19:30-38. Lot has fled the lost city of Sodom together with his wife and his two daughters. During the escape from Sodom, Lot‘s wife turns into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters take shelter in Zoar, but afterwards go up into the mountains to live in a cave. One evening, Lot‘s eldest daughter gets Lot drunk and has sex with him without his knowledge. The following night, the younger daughter does the same. They both become pregnant; the older daughter gives birth to Moab, while the younger daughter gives birth to Ammon.

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1 Cf. exh. cat., Vienna 2006, p. 164 and note 26.