"The Return of the Prodigal Son" - painting by Rembrandt

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

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 one to find an obvious link to it either in terms of the topics covered in the paintings, or in terms of the artistic means with which he reveals these topics. This property of Rembrandt's painting matures over the life of the master, reaching a maximum towards the end of it.

“The Return of the Prodigal Son” is a painting that is considered to be the testament of a 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" - a painting that hasa separate value in itself, but this is also a continuation of the conversation. Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Durer, Murillo and many other masters from different countries and generations had their own interpretations of the parable.

Rembrandt himself refers to this subject more than once - his etchings with the title "The 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 the master’s canvases, written in the happiest periods of life, radiate, is complemented by a slightly different shade.

The painter is not life, but the spirit

The originality of Rembrandt's work is also 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 painting The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt confirmed his loy alty 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", ashistorians and connoisseurs of 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 answers, not related to the time in which he lived, neither internal nor external attributes, Rembrandt shows that he is modern and always relevant.

Return of the Prodigal Son Description

His painting style is a means to create a narrative, to tell stories, which no other artist has ever had. How does Rembrandt tell the ancient parable of 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.

Q&A

Like my other masterpieces,"The Return of the Prodigal Son" Rembrandt endows 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 other 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 passage 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? Is their social status or material condition important? 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 almost literally repeats itself in the finale of Andrei Arsenievich Tarkovsky's famous film “Solaris”, released in 1972.

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