The Return of the Prodigal Son
Return of the Prodigal Son — Rembrandt, c.1661-1669
Rembrandt van Rijn, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son is the most spiritually profound painting in the history of Western art — the culmination of his final decade, probably painted in the last years before his death in 1669. It depicts the moment in Luke 15:20 when the prodigal son, having squandered his inheritance in a far country and returned in destitution, 'was still a great way off, when his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.' Rembrandt shows the instant of arrival: the son, ragged and barefoot (one shoe fallen off, the other worn to a sole), kneels with his face buried in his father's chest; the father bends over him and places his two hands on the son's shoulders in a gesture of absolute acceptance.
Five witnesses stand in the shadows at the right. The quality of the father's hands — one broad and masculine (the left), one finer and more tender (the right) — has been interpreted as a symbol of God's dual qualities of justice and mercy.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) returned to the Prodigal Son parable multiple times in his career — drawings, etchings, and paintings. The Hermitage canvas is the final and most complete treatment, made in the last period of his life when he had experienced his own prodigal reversal: the bankruptcy of 1656, the sale of his house and possessions, the deaths of his wife Saskia, his son Titus (in 1668), and his long companion Hendrickje Stoffels (in 1663).
The painting is a self-portrait of the soul: Rembrandt knew both the son's destitution and the father's acceptance. The Hermitage canvas was acquired for Catherine the Great in 1766 and has been in St Petersburg ever since.
The painting rewards very slow attention. The father's face — partially in shadow, looking downward at his kneeling son — is barely visible but profoundly present. The son's shaved head, ragged coat, and bare sole (the one remaining shoe worn to nothing) are documentary observations of extreme poverty.
The father's two different hands (the left larger and stronger, the right smaller and more delicate) are Rembrandt's most famous detail: they have been read as symbols of fatherhood and motherhood, justice and mercy, Old Testament and New Testament. The five witnesses at the right are in the shadows — their faces barely resolved, their emotions unreadable. The space of the painting is compressed and warm; the light is focused entirely on the two central figures.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Return of the Prodigal Son — Rembrandt, c.1661-1669. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The father's two different hands on the son's shoulders. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The son's bare feet — one shoe worn to a sole. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
State Hermitage Museum, Palace Square 2, St Petersburg. The Rembrandt is in the Dutch and Flemish Masters galleries. The Hermitage is one of the world's great museums; the Prodigal Son is its most visited single work.