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Title: The Return of the Prodigal Son
Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 262 x 206 cm
Location: The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

The Return of the Prodigal Son is arguably Rembrandt Harmensz.van Rijn’s finest work; certainly it is the most famous from his late career. The painting depicts the Biblical story of the prodigal son from the book of Luke, Chapter 15. In the parable, the younger son of a wealthy father begs to be given his inheritance early. When his father gives it to him the young man leaves the family home and goes to a foreign country where he lives a life of dissipation, squanders his wealth, ruins his health, and finally is reduced to working as a swineherd. Eventually, the son sees the error in his ways and returns to his father, uncertain of his welcome, but humbling himself at the old man’s feet, and begging to be taken back into the family.

Significantly, the father forgives his son without hesitation and orders a fatted calf killed to celebrate his return. When the older son objects that his brother is to be rewarded for his faithless behavior, his father says:
“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”

Rembrandt has chosen to depict the family at the moment of the father’s forgiveness. In the father’s face we see of tender love and joy at the return of his son. The figures themselves, the frail, heavily-robed, old man bending over the kneeling figure of his tattered, balding, frail son, show Rembrandt’s great understanding of the human mind and spirit. The son’s face is not visible. In this primary pair, the emotion is all expressed in the father’s face and the eloquent lines of their figures.

In the background are several other figures: the brother stands directly behind the father; in the distant shadows is an upright woman in a hat. Beside the father and son are two other well dressed, men in dark hats, presumably visitors to the home. One squats beside the pair; another stands beside him, upright. Both serve as foils to emphasize the bent father, just as the upright figure of the brother contrasts with the penitent son.

Rembrandt’s use of light and shadow is masterful in this painting. The background shadows behind the primary figures hint at a large room and the well dressed woman barely visible lends mystery to the proceedings. Brightly lit against this darker background are the son’s golden garments and the ochre sleeves and scarlet shawl worn by the father.

The Return of the Prodigal Son was completed less than a year before Rembrandt’s death. It is now housed in St. Petersburg, Russia in The Hermitage.