3-102-304 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The Return of the Prodigal Son', c1668, (1967). Biblical scene: (Luke 15:11-32). The artist painted this work just months before his death. It is hard to recognize the pale, emaciated, shattered man returning to the father whom he left in his youth as that same reckless pleasure-seeker, gambler and spendthrift, who asked his parent for his share of the inheritance and squandered it away down to the last coin. His self-confidence and fine clothing are gone. At the cost of suffering and losses he has gained insight. Entering his father's house, miserable, sick and exhausted, he falls on his knees before his parent, who bends over him, full of love and forgiveness. The old man's face shines out of the dark background: the light of consolation descends on the son. The astonished witnesses look on in silence. Rembrandt produced this huge uncommissioned work in Protestant Holland where there were no painted altarpieces in the churches and large pictures on religious subjects were rarely produced. Painting in the Hermitage, St Petersburg. From "Rembrandt" by Ludwig Münz and Bob Haak, [Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1967]