Description of the painting the return of the prodigal son. Return of the prodigal son


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1. Painting "Return prodigal son»Written around 1668-1669. Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Now it is kept in the Hermitage. The size of the painting is 262 x 205 cm, oil on canvas.

2. Mythology (genre)

3. The plot for the picture was the last part of the parable from the Bible, which tells about a lost son who eventually comes to his native threshold and repents before his father. The parent is glad to see a living and unlucky younger offspring, hugs him like a father, and the older brother is angry and does not fit.

Rice. 1 Rembrandt. Return of the prodigal son

It was this imaginary scene that lay on the canvas. The master perfectly conveyed the fatherly feelings and repentance of his son. The young man is depicted kneeling before his parent, pressing his shaved head against his father's body. His clothes are dirty and torn, they bear traces of their former splendor and luxury, but it is clear that the young man fell to the very bottom of human sins and could not rise from there. His feet traveled many paths. This is evidenced by worn-out shoes, they can no longer be called shoes - one shoe simply does not rest on the foot. The face of the son is hidden, the painter depicted him in such a way that the viewer himself guessed what feelings can be displayed on the face young man.

The main figure of the work is the father. His figure is slightly inclined towards his son, with his hands he gently squeezes his son's shoulders, his head is slightly tilted to the left. The whole pose of this old man speaks of the suffering and grief that he experienced all those years while his son was absent from the house. With these movements, he seems to forgive his son, his return to his father is a great joy. The father looks at the kneeling boy and smiles. His face is serene and the old man is happy. Interior corner of the house: carved bas-reliefs, columns; the old man's attire: a red cloak and brocade sleeves in its slits - speak of the good prosperity of the house, the wealth and dignity of those gathered here.

With the remaining four figures, the experts did not figure it out to the end. Versions vary greatly. One of the assumptions is that the seated young man with a mustache and a smart hat adorned with a feather is the elder brother of the prodigal. Perhaps so, since his facial expression speaks of condemnation and he does not participate in the reconciliation of relatives.

Rice. Rembrandt. The return of the prodigal son. (Fragment)

The most distant figure is considered female - a barely visible girl in a headscarf standing on the steps could be a servant in her father's house. A man standing next to a penitent is holding a staff, he is wearing a cloak, he has a long beard, and a turban is on his head. His whole appearance suggests that he can be the same wanderer, but more intelligent and demanding for his own purposes. The gaze of this mute witness is fixed on the young man kneeling before his father. What thoughts darken the wanderer's face, one can only guess.

The entire canvas is written in Rembrandt's favorite reddish-brown tones. The artist managed to masterfully display the light accents on the faces of the people depicted and muffle secondary characters. Even without knowing what is written in the biblical parable, having seen this great work, you can read everything on it.

4. Rembrandt's painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son" - classic example compositions, where the main thing is strongly shifted from the center for the most accurate disclosure of the main idea of ​​​​the work. The plot of Rembrandt's painting was inspired by the gospel parable. On the threshold of their home, a father and son met, who returned after wandering around the world. Depicting the wanderer's rags, Rembrandt shows the hard path passed by his son, as if telling him in words. You can look at this back for a long time, sympathizing with the suffering of the lost. The depth of space is conveyed by the gradual weakening of light and shade and color contrasts, starting from the foreground. In fact, it is built by the figures of witnesses to the scene of forgiveness, gradually dissolving in the twilight.

The blind father put his hands on his son's shoulders as a token of forgiveness. In this gesture - all the wisdom of life, pain and longing for the years lived in anxiety and forgiveness. Rembrandt highlights the main thing in the picture with light, focusing our attention on it. The compositional center is located almost at the edge of the picture. The artist balances the composition with the figure of the eldest son standing on the right. Placing the main semantic center at one third of the distance in height corresponds to the law of the golden section, which since ancient times has been used by artists to achieve the greatest expressiveness of their creations.

Rule of the golden ratio (one third): Most important element the image is located in accordance with the proportion of the golden section, that is, approximately at a distance of 1/3 from the whole.

Rice. The scheme of the picture

return of the prodigal son rembrandt

5. There is no active action, static, externally restrained characters, sometimes shrouded in the glow of brocade clothes, protrude from the shaded space surrounding them. The dominant dark golden-brown tones subjugate all colors, among which a special role belongs to shades of red burning from the inside, like smoldering coals. Dense relief strokes, permeated with the movement of a luminous mass of paint, are combined in shaded areas with transparent glazes written in a thin layer. The texture of the colorful surface of the works of the late Rembrandt seems to be a shimmering jewel. The exciting humanity of his images is marked by the seal of mysterious beauty.

6. The story of the prodigal son (Gospel of Luke, 15:11-32) worried the great Dutch artist XVII in. Rembrandt throughout his life. He created drawings, etching, a picture on the theme of the gospel parable. The artist comprehends the life path of a carefree young man even in "Self-portrait with Saskia on his knees" (1635). At the end of a difficult life path Rembrandt paints the monumental painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son", in which he most fully expresses his ideas about the eternal human values. The son returns to his father's house, long years who did not remember his home and father, who lived carelessly and idly. The old father meets his repentant and kneeling son, pressing him to his chest. Bowing his face, illuminated by light, over the unprivate, the old man froze, radiating kindness and warmth of all-forgiving love. The fiery red and golden ocher color in the old man's cloak and the young man's rags sound like a triumphant chord. Merged together, father and son are in the life-giving environment of Rembrandt's golden-brown chiaroscuro. The bystanders of the scene froze in the semi-darkness. Rembrandt's chiaroscuro becomes the equivalent of a person's spiritual energy, his love and compassion, forgiveness and repentance. The gospel parable in the understanding and implementation of Rembrandt is eternal, it is addressed to the heart of everyone: "And we must rejoice in that, that this son was dead and came to life; he was lost and was found."

7. Yes, there is no doubt that Rembrandt's paintings are the pinnacle. Dutch painting. A special place in it is occupied by his painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (c. 1666-69). Rembrandt wrote it in the last year of his life, when he was already old, poor, mortally ill and infirm, living in hunger and cold. And yet, in defiance of fate, he wrote and wrote in the country and city, which he glorified forever.

The theme for writing the canvas "The Return of the Prodigal Son" was the well-known gospel parable, which tells how, after long wanderings in an uncomfortable world, the prodigal son returned with unfulfilled hopes to his abandoned father.

Researchers like to pay attention to the fact that left hand has a distinctly masculine outline, while the right one looks more like a woman's hand (it almost repeats, for example, the line of the hand of the main character in the painting "The Jewish Bride" stored in the Amsterdam Riksmuseum).

Perhaps in this way Rembrandt symbolizes the return to his father's house, where both mother and father are waiting for their son.

Hermitage employee Irina Linnik believes that Rembrandt's painting has a prototype in the woodcut by Cornelis Antonissen (1541), on which the kneeling son and father are also depicted surrounded by figures. But on the engraving these figures are inscribed - Faith, Hope, Love, Repentance and Truth. In the heavens, an engraving in Greek, Hebrew and Latin says "God". The X-ray of the Hermitage canvas showed the initial similarity of the Rembrandt painting with the details of the mentioned engraving.

There is also a version that two figures on the right side of the picture, a young man in a beret and standing man, these are the same father and son, but only until the prodigal son leaves home for adventure.

Rembrandt died at the age of 63 all alone, but opened painting as a way to the best of all worlds, to the world of the unity of the existence of image and thought.

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The main difference between the work of Rembrandt van Rijn is its timeless character. Historically referring to the heyday of Dutch painting of the 17th century, it does not allow us to find an obvious link to it either in terms of the topics covered in the paintings, or in terms of artistic means with which he reveals these topics. This property of Rembrandt's painting matures over the course of the master's life, reaching a maximum towards the end of it.

"The Return of the Prodigal Son" - a painting that is considered to be a testament brilliant artist. Art historians usually date it to 1663, the year the maestro died. The scale of the philosophical content of this plot, and the picturesque sound of the canvas reach a truly cosmic scale.

Eternal plot

He was primarily interested in the depths of human nature, the motives of people's actions. Therefore, it is understandable why Rembrandt wrote on biblical subjects much more often than his contemporaries. The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most popular subjects in world art. “The Return of the Prodigal Son” is a picture that has a separate value in itself, but it is also a continuation of the conversation. They had their own interpretations of the parable Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Durer, Murillo and many other masters different countries and generations.

Rembrandt himself refers to this plot more than once - his etchings with the title "Prodigal Son" are known. Reasoning on this topic is found by researchers of Rembrandt's work even in such a famous work of the master as "Self-portrait with Saskia on her knees" (1635). This is also a kind of "Return of the Prodigal Son" - a picture that they interpret as an illustration of that part of the parable that tells about the extravagance of a son who thoughtlessly spends his father's inheritance. From this point of view, the joy of being, which is radiated by the master's canvases, written in the happiest periods of life, is complemented by a slightly different shade.

Painter not of life, but of the spirit

The originality is explained by his purely pictorial techniques, the use of a palette, work with light and shadow. If the majority of the “Little Dutch” and artists consonant with them are characterized by the desire for an accurate and tangible depiction of things, the expression of their material essence, then in Rembrandt objects appear from non-existence or “from the darkness of the past”, being in close relationship with the passage of time, with history. By writing The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt confirmed his loyalty to the special atmosphere inherent only to him, which highlights the main thing on the canvas, without depriving the light of a single important detail.

And this is not just a virtuoso game of the “master of chiaroscuro”, as historians and experts on his work call the brilliant Dutchman. This is an extra designation of the primacy for him of the internal content of human actions, the search for their motivating causes. Where does the essence of man come from, who created it, and how does that which determines being change? By the fact that he raises such questions and offers his own answers, not related to the time in which he lived, neither internal nor external attributes, Rembrandt shows that he is modern and always relevant.

"The Return of the Prodigal Son": description

His pictorial style is such a means of creating a narrative, telling stories that no other artist has ever had. As Rembrandt says an ancient parable about returning home?

... We are present during the pause that came after the son stepped up to the threshold of his father's house. This pause is not silent - it rings ... After all, too much has been lost - his head is shaved like a convict's, his shoes are worn out, he has neither the strength nor the means to achieve something, not even desires and ambitions. A terrible ending to unfulfilled hopes. The father comes out to meet him and simply puts his hands on the shoulders of his son, and he falls, almost dissolving in the folds of his clothes. “The Return of the Prodigal Son” is a picture about the end of all earthly paths, where at the end there will be a golden ray, similar to the one that illuminated those who met, illuminated one of the most outstanding Rembrandt images - the father’s head. This ray is the mercy that all the erring should hope for.

Questions and answers

Like his other masterpieces, Rembrandt endows The Return of the Prodigal Son with many mysteries and secrets. Perhaps they appeared simply because of a long temporary detachment, and at the time of writing the picture, it was clear to its viewers, for example, who the rest of the characters in the canvas were, why they looked at the visitor in such a different way, with such a different feeling. Why are the hands of the father's hands, lying on the shoulders of the son, so strikingly different from each other?

With the prescription of time, much has been lost, and most of the secrets have simply lost their meaning. Indeed, does it really matter, in the end, in what kindred relations are the people present on the canvas? Are they important social status or material condition? Now they are all just witnesses of an exciting event - a meeting after a long separation of two relatives, witnesses of an act of forgiveness, on which the Christian worldview is largely based.

For all time

Rembrandt van Rijn... "The Return of the Prodigal Son" is a picture that is almost literally repeated in the finale of Andrei Arsenievich Tarkovsky's famous film "Solaris", released in 1972.

Images, born many centuries before, turn out to be the most suitable for expressing the feelings experienced by main character film - Chris Kelvin, returning to his native threshold from a star system located millions of kilometers away ...

The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1669. Oil on canvas, 262x206. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Perhaps no other painting by Rembrandt inspires such lofty feelings as this painting. There are few works of such intense emotional impact in world art as the monumental Hermitage painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son."
The story is taken from the New Testament.

The return of the prodigal son” is a feeling of boundless family joy and fatherly protection. Perhaps that is why it is possible to call the main character the father, and not the prodigal son, who became the reason for the manifestation of generosity. This is grief for lost youth, regret that it is impossible to return the lost days.
This plot attracted many famous predecessors of Rembrandt: Dürer, Bosch, Luke of Leiden, Rubens.

PARABLE
One man had two sons. The younger son wanted to get his part of the estate, and the father divided the estate among his sons. Soon younger son gathered everything he had and went to a far country. There he squandered all his wealth on a dissolute life. In the end, he was in dire need and was forced to work as a swineherd.

He was so hungry that he was ready to fill his stomach with slop that was given to pigs. But he was deprived of this too, because. famine began in the country. And then he thought: “How many servants are there in my father's house and there is enough food for all of them. And I'm dying of hunger here. I will go back to my father and say that I have sinned against heaven and against it.” And he returned home. When he was still far away, his father saw him, and he felt sorry for his son. He ran to meet him, hugged him and began to kiss.

He said: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants: “Go quickly, bring him the best clothes and dress him. Put a ring on his hand and put on sandals. Bring a fattened calf and slaughter it. Let's make a feast and celebrate. After all, my son was dead, and now he is alive again! He was lost and now found!” And they began to celebrate.

The eldest son was in the field at that time. When he approached the house, he heard that there was music and dancing in the house. He called one of the servants and asked what was going on there. “Your brother came,” answered the servant, “and your father slaughtered a fattened calf, because his son is healthy and everything is fine with him.”
The eldest son was angry and did not even want to go into the house. Then the father came out and begged him. But the son said: “All these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have always done everything you said. But you never slaughtered even a goat for me so that I could have fun with my friends.

But when this son of yours, who had squandered all your property in debauchery, returned home, you slaughtered a fattened calf for him!” "My son! - Then the father said, - you are always with me, and everything that I have is all yours. But we should rejoice that your brother was dead, and now he is alive again, was lost and found!”
The religious meaning of the parable is this: no matter how a person sins, repentance will always be rewarded with joyful forgiveness.

ABOUT PICTURE

This picture is undoubtedly crowning later work Rembrandt, about the repentant return of the son, about the disinterested forgiveness of the father, clearly and convincingly reveals the deep humanity of the story.
Rembrandt highlights the main thing in the picture with light, focusing our attention on it. The compositional center is located almost at the edge of the picture. The artist balances the composition with a figure standing on the right.

As always, the artist's imagination drew everything that happened very concretely. There is not a single place in the vast canvas that is not filled with the subtlest changes in color. The action takes place at the entrance to the house to our right, covered with ivy and veiled in darkness.

The prodigal son, who collapsed on his knees before his decrepit father, having reached the last stage of poverty and humiliation in his wanderings, is an image that embodies the tragic way knowledge of life. The wanderer is wearing clothes that were once rich, but now turned into sackcloth. The left of his tattered sandals fell off his foot.

But it is not the eloquence of the narrative that determines the impression of this picture. In majestic, strict images, the depth and tension of feelings are revealed here, and Rembrandt achieves this in the complete absence of dynamics - in fact, action - in the whole picture.

FATHER AND SON
The picture is dominated by “only one figure - the father, depicted in front, with a wide, blessing gesture of his hands, which he almost symmetrically puts on the shoulders of his son.
The father is a dignified old man, with noble features, dressed in regal-sounding red robes. Take a close look at this man - he seems older than time itself, and his blind eyes are inexplicable, just like the young man’s rags written in gold. The dominant position of the father in the picture is confirmed by both silent triumph and hidden splendor. It reflects compassion, forgiveness and love.

A father who puts his hands on his son's dirty shirt as if he is performing a sacred sacrament, shaken by the depth of feeling, he should hold on to his son as well as hold him ...

From the noble head of the father, from his precious attire, our gaze descends to the shaved head, the criminal skull of the son, to his rags hanging randomly on the body, to the soles of the feet, boldly exposed towards the viewer, blocking his gaze ..

The master placed the main figures at the junction of the picturesque and real spaces (later the canvas was placed at the bottom, but according to the author’s intention, its lower edge passed at the level of the kneeling son’s toes.

At present, the picture has become very dark, and therefore, in ordinary light, only the foreground is distinguishable in it, a narrow stage platform with a group of father and son on the left and a tall wanderer in a red cloak, who is standing to our right on the last - second - step of the porch. A mysterious light pours from the depths of the twilight behind the canvas.

He gently envelops the figure, as if blinded before our eyes, of the old father, who stepped out of the darkness to meet us, and the son, who, with his back to us, fell to the knees of the old man, asking for forgiveness. But there are no words. Only the hands, the sighted hands of the father gently feel the dear flesh. The silent tragedy of recognition, returned love, so skillfully conveyed by the artist.

SECONDARY FIGURES

In addition to the father and son, 4 more characters are depicted in the picture. These are dark silhouettes that are hardly distinguishable against a dark background, but who they are remains a mystery. Some called them "brothers and sisters" of the protagonist. It is characteristic that Rembrandt avoids conflict: the parable speaks of the jealousy of an obedient son, and the harmony of the picture is not broken in any way.

The woman in the upper left corner is a figure that resembles an allegory of Love, and, in addition, has a red heart-shaped medallion. Perhaps this is the image of the mother of the prodigal son.

Two figures in the background, located in the center (apparently, a female, possibly a servant. A seated young man with a mustache, if you follow the plot of the parable, may be a second, obedient brother.

The attention of researchers is riveted by the figure of the last witness, located on the right side of the picture. It plays an important role in the composition and is written almost as vividly as the main characters. His face expresses sympathy, and the traveling cloak put on him and the staff in his hands suggest that he, like the prodigal son, is a lonely wanderer.

There is another version that the two figures on the right side of the picture: a young man in a beret and a standing man are the same father and son that are depicted on the other half, but only before the prodigal son leaves the house towards revelry. Thus, the canvas, as it were, combines two chronological plans. The opinion was expressed that these two figures are the image of the publican and the Pharisee from the gospel parable.

Flutist
In profile, in the form of a bas-relief on the right side of the standing witness, a musician is depicted playing the flute. His figure, perhaps, is reminiscent of music, which in a few moments will fill the father's house with the sounds of joy.
The circumstances of writing the canvas are mysterious. It is believed to be written in last years artist's life. Changes and corrections of the original intent of the painting, visible on the x-ray, testify to the authenticity of the canvas.

How did this painting get to Russia?

Prince Dmitry Alekseevich Golitsyn bought it on behalf of Catherine II for the Hermitage in 1766 from Andre d'Ansezen, the last Duke of Cadrus. And he, in turn, inherited the painting from his wife, whose grandfather, Charles Colbert, carried out diplomatic missions in Holland Louis XIV and there, most likely, he bought it.

Rembrandt died at the age of 63 all alone, but he discovered painting as a path to the best of all worlds, as the unity of the existence of image and thought.

His work of recent years is not only a reflection on the meanings of the biblical story about the prodigal son, but also the ability to accept oneself without anything and forgive oneself before seeking forgiveness from God or higher powers.

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Rembrandt The Return of the Prodigal Son (detail)

The theme of the prodigal son is timeless, eternal. It is perhaps one of the most popular themes in world culture and one of the most ancient.

It is known that the plot with the son who left home and lived in a foreign land, and then returned to his father's house, begins in ancient Babylonian texts and in Greek papyri. But it is better known as a gospel story: we read the parable of the prodigal son in the Gospel of Luke (Luke: 15:11-32). In the Gospel, the parable that Jesus Christ tells has mainly a metaphorical meaning - the drama of sin, repentance and forgiveness, but there is also a direct everyday plot in this story, an ordinary family drama, which is repeated from century to century, from country to country, it touches today in the same way as it touched the hearts of the first listeners, because, in essence, there is nothing new under the sun.

Writers, poets, and artists have addressed this topic many times - it is inexhaustible.

But here we are talking only about painting, so let's remember that before Rembrandt this plot attracted Dürer, Bosch, Rubens, Luke of Leiden, and ... However, it's time to turn to Rembrandt's painting.

The plot of the picture

Rembrandt "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (circa 1666-1699). Canvas, oil. 260x203 cm Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Still, you first need to get acquainted with the parable (for those, of course, who are not yet familiar with it). Because without this it is difficult to even start a conversation about the plot of the picture itself. So, parable.

Parable of the Prodigal Son

Some man had two sons; and the youngest of them said to his father, Father! give me the next part of the estate. And the father divided the estate between them. After a few days, the youngest son, having collected everything, went to a far country and there he squandered his property, living dissolutely. When he had lived all, there came a great famine in that country, and he began to be in need; and he went and attached himself to one of the inhabitants of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine; and he was glad to fill his belly with horns that swine ate, but no one gave him. When he came to his senses, he said: how many hirelings from my father have plenty of bread, and I am dying of hunger; I will get up and go to my father and say to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; accept me as one of your hired hands.
He got up and went to his father. And while he was still far away, his father saw him and had compassion; and, running, fell on his neck and kissed him. The son said to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. And the father said to his servants: Bring the best clothes and dress him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet; and bring a fattened calf, and kill it; Let's eat and be merry! for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they started having fun.
His eldest son was in the field; and returning, when he approached the house, he heard singing and rejoicing; and calling one of the servants, he asked: what is this? He said to him: Your brother has come, and your father killed the fatted calf, because he received him healthy. He got angry and didn't want to come in. His father went out and called him. But he said in response to his father: behold, I have served you for so many years and have never transgressed your orders, but you have never given me even a kid to have fun with my friends; and when this son of yours, who had squandered his possessions with harlots, came, you slaughtered a fattened calf for him. He said to him: My son! you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours, and it was necessary to rejoice and be glad that this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, was lost and was found.

The painting depicts the final episode of the parable: the prodigal son returned home. He had not yet entered the house, but fell on his knees in front of his father, who came out to meet him. The father hugged his son tenderly by the shoulders. We do not see the face of the prodigal son, but his whole appearance suggests that this man suffered quite a lot during his adventures: shabby clothes, trampled shoes, shaved head ... He does not notice that one shoe has fallen - he is completely seized with a sense of remorse and joy meeting with father. The artist highlights with light exactly these two figures, the most important in the plot, everything else is not seen very clearly, even the witnesses of the scene of forgiveness.

Rembrandt "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (painting detail)

Although the figure on the right is written almost as vividly as the main characters. Apparently, therefore, some researchers believe that this is the eldest son. You can agree or disagree with this. Firstly, on his face we see sympathy for everything that is happening, and in the parable the eldest son expresses completely different feelings. Secondly, according to the parable, the eldest son learns about the return of the youngest when he came from the field where he worked and, in accordance with this, had to be in working clothes - in the picture he is depicted in a traveling raincoat.

There are other versions: for example, that Rembrandt depicted himself in this image. But let's not guess, because the picture shows, in addition to the son and father, four more mysterious characters. Who they are, the artist did not explain.

History of the painting

Rembrandt painted The Return of the Prodigal Son in the last years of his life. But this is not his only work on this subject. The picture is dated 1666-1669, although some consider these dates to be controversial, but back in 1635 he created the canvas “The Prodigal Son in a Tavern” (“Self-Portrait with Saskia on His Knees”). This is a famous self-portrait of the artist with his wife Saskia, in which he portrayed himself and her characters in the biblical parable of the prodigal son. This painting is in the Dresden Gallery.

Rembrandt, The Prodigal Son in a Tavern (1635). Canvas, oil, 161x131. Gallery of Old Masters, Dresden

Let us recall this episode from the Gospel of Luke: “After a few days, the youngest son, having collected everything, went to a far country and there he squandered his possessions, living dissolutely.”

Rembrandt entrusted himself with the role of the prodigal son in the painting. He is elegantly dressed in a camisole with a sword, on his head is a hat with a feather, right hand he raises high a crystal glass of wine. Saskia sits on his lap in the role of a harlot, also in a rich outfit. A dish with a peacock on the table is a symbol of vanity.

Rembrandt The Return of the Prodigal Son. Etching on paper, 12.9x13.5 cm. State Museum, Amsterdam

Then the artist returns to this topic a year later, creating the etching “The Return of the Prodigal Son”, and only 31 years later he finally proceeds to his own big picture on a religious theme - "The Return of the Prodigal Son".

How did this painting get to Russia?

Prince Dmitry Alekseevich Golitsyn bought it on behalf of Catherine II for the Hermitage in 1766 from Andre d'Ansezen, the last Duke of Cadrus. And he, in turn, inherited the painting from his wife, whose grandfather, Charles Colbert, carried out diplomatic missions for Louis XIV in Holland and most likely acquired it there.

We began our article with the fact that the theme of the prodigal son is all-time and eternal. This is how we end. And let's illustrate with the final frame of A. Tarkovsky's film "Solaris" - the return of the prodigal Chris Kelvin to his father.

Shot from the film "Solaris"

Rembrandt - Return of the Prodigal Son

Each of us knows the well-known parable about the return of the prodigal son under the roof of his own home and the generous forgiveness of his son by the father.

Rembrandt depicted a biblical story on canvas, experiencing in his life a spiritual rebirth and the search for his "I", the artist turned to divine principle, it was in this story that he found divine enlightenment and renounced doubts and fears.

The center of the composition is made up of two figures - a father and a son. Sick and unhappy torn clothes, barefoot, the son returns from darkness, vices and sins, holding out his hands to a bright face, remorse for all his bad deeds that he has committed. Kneeling down, buried in his father's clothes, he seems to be looking for support and support, begging for forgiveness for his stupidity, unreason and disrespect.

His face is not visible, but it seems as if hot tears of bitterness and sadness are rolling down his cheeks. The happy father meets the prodigal son with incense, whom he no longer hoped to see. He opens his strong parental embrace, his face is bright and full of calm and peace. He forgives his child and accepts everything, despite all the deeds that he has done.

This scene is dramatic and tragic. The servants and the brother of the returning vagabond lowered their heads in meek silence.

This picture is full of hopes and anxieties, repentance and care, spiritual purity and acceptance. The artist seems to let us know that everyone who sincerely believes with his heart and soul, repents and loves can find light and forgiveness.

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