ART CRITICISM: The Return of the Prodigal Son

The painting I am going to analyse is The Return of the Prodigal Son, by the Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, one of the most renowned Baroque painters. It is an oil on canvas which measures 205 cm by 262 cm. It was painted between 1663 and 1665, and is held in the State Hermitage Museum, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In this masterpiece Rembrandt rendered the famous parable of the prodigal son narrated in the Gospel of Luke (15:11-32). The son asked his father for his inheritance and left the parental home only to squander what he had received. When he lost all his wealth, he came back home, sick, starving and penniless. His old father welcomed and forgave him, feeling joyful because his son was alive and at home after all. The main figures are the son (knelt and repentant) and the father (a man both wealthy and loving). They are accompanied by some onlookers: the older son (who disagrees with the father’s compassion), two people who are supposed to be servants, and a mysterious woman sunk in the darkness.

At firts glance, it is already noticed that Rembrandt used clear theatrical effects to achieve immediate impact. This is Caravaggio’s method (see, in this blog, Interesting Fact: The Inverted Cross (‘The Crucifixion of Saint Peter’)), and Rembrandt learnt from it. It could be said that Caravaggio blazed a trail when it comes to the use of chiaroscuro, which later on was emulated by painters such as Bartolomeo Manfredi, Georges de la Tour, José de Ribera or Rembrandt, among others. This method (Caravaggianism) encompasses the following features: a contrast between light and darkness, few figures, certain spots on which the light focus, and main figures in the foreground. Regarding the mentioned contrast, dark areas are theatrically effective as they attract our attention and draw us into the picture by simplifying the composition. In this painting, the abruptly applied brushstrokes emphasize the intensity of the tragedy and the painting in general.

Magdalene with the Smoking Flame, oil on canvas by Georges de la Tour (1640-1645),
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The artwork is dominated by the idea of the victory of love and compassion (as the highest human acts) over revenge and resentment. The father’s hands, one delicate and pale, the other stronger and darker, are above his son’s shoulders in a timeless gesture of love and forgiveness. Hands have pride of place in Rembrandt’s works because they appear to harbour an essential meaning. A good example of this is Isaac and Rebecca, also known as The Jewish Bride. The human drama is expressed in the figures of both father (with vivid highlights on his hair, face and beard) and son (barefoot, wearing tattered clothing, a robe used as a belt, and shaven head).

From my point of view, Rembrandt achieved to use a particular human tragedy as a symbol with universal meaning. As a matter of fact, the clothes depicted in the painting could belong to the period in which the painter lived, thus stressing the idea that the story was a current or timeless drama. The main message in this parable, which is brilliantly conveyed in the painting, is that divine justice has its own criteria, which can be summarized in a few words that appear in another parable of the Gospel of Luke, ‘The Lost Sheep’ (15:3-7): “there shall be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just people who need no repentance”. The father, like God, does not want to condemn or punish, but rather free and bring his son back to the community. In the Gospels Jesus does not seek to awaken guilt in human hearts, but a transformation that leads to a fundamental change of heart and way of living, with its behavioural fruits (metanoia). Hence, Rembrandt seems to pose such an uneasy question: ‘Would we have been magnanimous like the father or have remained resentful like the older son?’

Best regards,

Jacobo González