The Return of the Prodigal Son (Rembrandt)
The Return of the Prodigal Son (Dutch: De terugkeer van de verloren zoon) is an oil painting by Rembrandt, part of the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It is among the Dutch master's final works, likely completed within two years of his death in 1669.[1] Depicting the moment of the prodigal son's return to his father in the Biblical parable, it is a renowned work described by art historian Kenneth Clark as "a picture which those who have seen the original in St. Petersburg may be forgiven for claiming as the greatest picture ever painted".[2]
In the painting, the son has returned home in a wretched state from travels in which he has wasted his inheritance and fallen into poverty and despair. He kneels before his father in repentance, wishing for forgiveness and the position of a servant in his father's household, having realized that even his father's servants had a better station in life than he.
His father receives him with a tender gesture and welcomes him as his own son. His hands seem to suggest mothering and fathering at once; the left appears larger and more masculine, set on the son's shoulder, while the right is softer and more receptive in gesture.[3]
Standing at the right is the prodigal son's older brother, who crosses his hands in judgment; in the parable he objects to the father's compassion for the sinful son:
The father explains, "But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found" (Luke 15:32).
Rembrandt was moved by the parable, and he made a variety of drawings, etchings, and paintings on the theme that spanned decades, beginning with a 1636 etching (see Gallery). The Return of the Prodigal Son includes figures not directly related to the parable but seen in some of these earlier works; their identities have been debated. The woman at top left, barely visible, is likely the mother,[4] while the seated man, whose dress implies wealth, may be an advisor to the estate or a tax collector.[3]
Reception[edit]
The Return of the Prodigal Son demonstrates the mastery of the late Rembrandt. His evocation of spirituality and the parable's message of forgiveness has been considered the height of his art. Rembrandt scholar Rosenberg (et al.) calls the painting "monumental", writing that Rembrandt
Art historian H. W. Janson writes that Prodigal Son "may be [Rembrandt's] most moving painting. It is also his quietest—a moment stretching into eternity. So pervasive is the mood of tender silence that the viewer feels a kinship with this group. That bond is perhaps stronger and more intimate in this picture than in any earlier work of art."[6]
Dutch priest Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) was so taken by the painting that he eventually wrote a short book, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming (1992), using the parable and Rembrandt's painting as frameworks.
He begins by describing his visit to the State Hermitage Museum in 1986, where he was able to contemplate the painting alone for hours. Considering the role of the father and sons in the parable in relation to Rembrandt's biography, he wrote:
![Rembrandt's 1636 etching on the subject, influenced by a woodcut by Martin van Heemskerck[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_-_Syn_marnotrawny.jpg)
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Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- Durham, John I. (2004). The Biblical Rembrandt: human painter in a landscape of faith. Mercer University Press. ISBN 978-0-86554-886-2.
- Horst Woldemar Janson; Anthony F. Janson (2003). History of art: the Western tradition. Prentice Hall PTR. ISBN 978-0-13-182895-7.
- Henri J. M. Nouwen (1992). The return of the prodigal son: a meditation on fathers, brothers, and sons. Doubleday Books. ISBN 978-0-385-41867-6.
- Sawyer, John F. A. (2006). The Blackwell companion to the Bible and culture. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-0136-3.
