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The Return of the Prodigal Son
Oil on canvas (c.1661–1669) by Rembrandt van Rijn, depicting the parable of the prodigal son's return and the father's embrace. One of his most celebrated late works. Held at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
Scholarly Significance
Rembrandt's supreme late-career expression of compassion and forgiveness; widely considered one of the greatest paintings in Western art.
Notes
- ·Based on Luke 15:11–32; the father embraces the returning son who kneels in rags before him.
- ·The painting may have been left unfinished at Rembrandt's death in 1669.
- ·The hands of the father appear deliberately different in character (one firm, one gentle), possibly representing masculine and feminine divine compassion.
- ·Acquired by Catherine the Great for the Hermitage in 1766.
- ·Henri Nouwen wrote a celebrated spiritual meditation on this work (1992).