The Return of the Prodigal Sun

The parable of the Prodigal Son comes from the Gospel of Luke. This etching depicts a father welcoming home a son who has squandered his inheritance living an immoral life. Rembrandt was intrigued by this story of redemption and compassion, and he returned to this narrative in a painting nearly three decades later.

In this version, our attention is solely placed on the redeeming embrace of father and son. The union of the two men raised on a platform creates a pyramidal shape, a compositional technique used by Renaissance artists, and all other lines and activity in the print return our eye to the central form. The broken scribble lines of his previous etchings have been organized into a system of hatching and cross-hatching. This new means of organizing his lines becomes an essential ingredient in the artist’s future etching.