The Return of the Prodigal Son (Rembrandt)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The return of the prodigal son (Rembrandt van Rijn)
The return of the prodigal son
Rembrandt van Rijn , 1666–69
Oil on canvas
260 × 203 cm
Hermitage (Saint Petersburg)

The Return of the Prodigal Son is one of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn . The painting is in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and was acquired by Catherine the Great in 1766 . The subject of the painting is taken from the parable of the prodigal son in the Gospel of Luke . It tells of the reckless son who left his father's house and led a lavish life ( Lk 15.13  EU ), and who finally returns home ( Lk 15.20  EU ).

Image description

The son kneels in front of the father, his clothes remind you that the distance covered was long and difficult, because the son's simple footwear clearly shows signs of wear. The left foot rests - with the bare sole of the foot facing the viewer - next to the removed shoe. His figure, turning his back to the viewer, gives an inkling of his confused mental state. The almost blind old man leans down to the son and touches his shoulder with a tender movement. The father's face is bent slightly to the right, the eyes seem almost closed. The light coming from the left makes his large forehead look particularly noticeable. The face is framed by a tied headgear, gray head hair and a long beard that is slightly parted in the middle. The father wears a short red cloak with tassels that reaches down to his forearms over his shoulders . The father's face and hands express love, kindness, and forgiveness. Separated by two steps, a large, pensive figure stands slightly in the background on the right. She wears a headgear, has thrown a long red cape on, wears sturdy boots and keeps her bearded, fair face tilted slightly downwards. The clasped hands rest on a thin stick. This is obviously the figure of the older son.

background

Rembrandt achieved fame through his ability as a portrait painter to penetrate the personality of the model with the help of his knowledge of human nature and his insight into emotional states and to transpose them on the canvas into biblical themes. Although he lived in a Reformation environment, his paintings , etchings and drawings made him the interpreter of the Northern Baroque Bible , which became popular illustrations of Protestant and later Roman Catholic editions of the Bible. Perhaps Rembrandt's many personal strokes of fate and his loss of artistic prestige resulted in his empathy and compassion, in which he even surpassed his greatest predecessors, perhaps with the exception of Michelangelo . His works convey deep insights into human suffering and life experiences and radiate an inner calm, which is accompanied by a handling of light and shadow of incomparable mastery. They convey sensitivity and melancholy without sentimentality , emotional depth and integrity without technical language and simplicity and spirituality without naivety . Rembrandt removed the halos , the glow of unnatural light and other "artificial" details in favor of spiritual authenticity, as also expressed in "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (c. 1669), the most extraordinary pictorial implementation of forgiveness and fatherly love in Western art through the gestures and facial expressions of the father and the body language of the light-footed son.

style

Rembrandt occupies a very special position within the rich Dutch production in the graphic field; one is touched by the concentration and coherence of the presentation, which looks big on a small scale. In the late 1960s there is no outwardly dramatic escalation; Infinitely simplified in gesture and expression, the image of the human being in the picture of the return of the prodigal son from 1668/69 reveals mainly emotional impulses. The ingenious intensification of the soul and the extremely personal treatment of chiaroscuro (in that very baroque style ) could later only be adopted externally by students.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Henri Nouwen : Take his picture in your heart: Spiritual interpretation of a painting by Rembrandt . 17th edition. Herder, Freiburg 1991, ISBN 978-3-451-22404-1 , blurb: "Rembrandt's masterpiece" The Return of the Prodigal Son "becomes an epitome of life for Henri Nouwen."
  2. ↑ a b c Bernhard Frei: Rembrandt - Return of the Prodigal Son. In: ART by country - Netherlands -Rembrandt. Kapuziner Meran , accessed on December 20, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Henri Nouwen : Take his picture into your heart: Spiritual interpretation of a painting by Rembrandt . 17th edition. Herder, Freiburg 1991, ISBN 978-3-451-22404-1 , Prologue - Encounter with a painting, p. 18 .
  4. ↑ a b c Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn: The homecoming of the prodigal son. In: Religious Education Institute Loccum. Internet offer of the Religious Education Institute Loccum of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover , accessed on December 20, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Laura Madeleine Völker: On the prodigal son - how joyfully God accepts returning sinners. In: The scientific Bible lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex). German Bible Society, July 9, 2015, accessed on December 20, 2019 : "However, the joy of his son's return home makes him kind and wasteful (cf. Grundmann, 1971, 315)"
  6. ^ Diane Apostolos-Cappadona:  Rembrandt . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 7, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, Sp. 426-427.
  7. ↑ Henri Nouwen : Take his picture into your heart: Spiritual interpretation of a painting by Rembrandt . 17th edition. Herder, Freiburg 1991, ISBN 978-3-451-22404-1 , first chapter: Rembrandt and the younger son, p. 46 + 47 : “After he lost his son Rumbartus in 1635, his first daughter Cornelia in 1638 and his second daughter of the same name in 1640, his wife Saskia died in 1642, whom he loved and admired very much. Rembrandt stayed behind with his nine month old son Titus. Even after Saskia's death, Rembrandt's life was marked by countless worries and problems. After a very unhappy relationship with Titus' wet nurse, Geertje Dirckx, which ended with trials and Geertje's admission to an insane asylum, a closer relationship with Hendrickje Stoffels followed. She bore him a son, who died in 1652, and a daughter, Cornelia, who would be the only one of his children to survive. During these years, Rembrandt's popularity as a painter declined, although some collectors and critics continued to regard him as one of the greatest painters of his time. His financial troubles became so overwhelming that Rembrandt was declared insolvent in 1656 and sought the right to transfer all his property and income in favor of his creditors in order to avoid bankruptcy. All his belongings, his own pictures and those of other painters in his possession, his large collection of works of art, his house in Amsterdam and his furniture were sold at three auctions in 1657 and 1658. [...] Hendrickje died in 1663, and five years later Rembrandt saw not only the marriage but also the death of his beloved son Titus. "
  8. ^ Diane Apostolos-Cappadona:  Rembrandt . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 7, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, Sp. 427.
  9. ^ Diane Apostolos-Cappadona:  Rembrandt . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 7, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, Sp. 429.
  10. ^ H. Tintelnot (JS Kunstreic):  Painting and sculpture . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 3. Edition. Volume 4, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 1960, Sp. 680.