Lot and his daughters

Lot and his daughters was a subject Vaccaro shared with Turchi and many other seventeenth-century Italian painters — its nocturnal intimacy and moral ambiguity made it a consistent favourite among collectors who could appreciate both its biblical legitimacy and its sensuous content. Vaccaro's 1670 version places this treatment late in his career, when the Neapolitan Baroque tradition was entering its final flourishing before the rococo sensibility of the following century began to displace it. The story from Genesis of Lot's daughters, who believed they were the last humans on earth after the destruction of Sodom and contrived to preserve the lineage through their unknowing father, provided the opportunity to explore female agency, wine, and nocturnal candlelight — a combination that suited the full resources of tenebrism. By 1670 Vaccaro's handling of such subjects was fluent and confident, though his late style tends toward somewhat softer contrasts than his most Riberesque phase.

The nocturnal cave setting demands concentrated artificial light — typically a candle or lamp — that illuminates the daughters from close range while leaving Lot and the background in deep shadow. Vaccaro's late oil technique on canvas shows broad, summary passages in peripheral areas with more careful attention to the illuminated female flesh in the foreground.