While fire rains down from heaven, destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot flees with his wife and daughters. Angels leading them to safety warn them not to stop or look back, but Lot’s wife cannot resist. As divine punishment for her disobedience, she is turned into a pillar of salt. Forever frozen in place with arms outstretched, her briny figure is licked by two rams.
Psalter, Latin and French, Tournai, Belgium, ca. 1200, MS M.338, fol. 196v (detail). Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) in 1908.