Lot and His Daughters Fleeing Sodom

Genesis tells how two angels came to Sodom and led Lot, his wife and their two daughters out of the city before it was destroyed, warning them not to look back. Lot's wife turned round and became a pillar of salt, and you can find her in the background here. The museum notes that the flight itself was rarely painted. Veronese and his workshop made the canvas around 1585 as part of a set of large biblical scenes, and it may be paired with a Flight into Egypt now in Ottawa, another family escaping ahead of disaster. The set's travels gave it its name. Around 1613 the pictures were at Beaumont Castle in Hainaut, in the collection of Charles de Croy, Duke of Aarschot, and afterwards they belonged to the Duke of Buckingham in England, which is why they are still called the Buckingham series.