Lot and His Daughters 1629

Claude Mellan etched this print of *Lot and His Daughters* in 1629. It depicts Lot, a biblical figure, being seduced by his daughters after escaping the destruction of Sodom. The most striking symbol here is the wine glass, clutched in Lot's hand. Wine, a symbol of both communion and intoxication, becomes in this scene an emblem of moral descent. We find echoes of this motif in countless artistic depictions across time, from ancient Roman bacchanals to modern scenes of revelry and ruin. Consider Caravaggio's *Bacchus*, where the god of wine offers a goblet, his gaze both inviting and unsettling. The subconscious pull is palpable: the intoxicating allure of transgression, the blurring of boundaries. Mellan's image, like Caravaggio's, engages our collective memory of the dangers of excess and the fragility of virtue. It is a cyclical narrative, this dance between temptation and downfall, constantly re-emerging in our cultural consciousness.