The Return of the Prodigal Son

The Return of the Prodigal Son, completed in 1668, a year before Rembrandt's death, is the most significant work of his later years, one of his most influential paintings, and the most famous of Rembrandt's paintings in the Hermitage Museum's collection. This painting fully demonstrates the artist's inner view of life and values in his later years.

In the painting, the prodigal son kneels in front of his father, with only a tiny part of his face visible, while the aging father and his beloved son occupy most of the foreground. The father lovingly places his hands on his son, his eyes downcast in contemplation, with mixed feelings. The two men are staggered in height, appearing in front of the deep dark shadows, shining like molten metal, dazzling the eyes of the father's love with great forgiveness, soothing the return of the Prodigal Son.

The Return of the Prodigal Son is Rembrandt's metaphor for real-life through religious motifs. In his later years, Rembrandt suffered the significant blow of losing his son, and his illness and despondency were just like the prodigal son who, after experiencing the pain of losing his wife and son one after another, would also die soon. In this last work, there are interpretations of biblical texts, as well as his life perceptions and insights into the world: the hardships of wandering, the indifference of the world, the squandering the wealth, and the poverty in the end.

The prodigal son in the painting prays for God's sympathy and mercy, and the warm light shining on the father's hand and the wanderer's shoulder in the painting is the comfort and forgiveness of returning home. The concentrated light and composition of this work freeze a touching moment and form an unforgettable image. Looking at this work, one can seem to feel Rembrandt's last feelings, the unspeakable grief that is transformed in the portrayal of the love between father and son, making the emotions sublimated.

The Return of the Prodigal Son's free strokes resembles those of Titian's late works. The large patches of color form a thick coating, giving the painting a solemn, graceful, yet warm atmosphere. The father is dressed in a large red and gold robe, a color Rembrandt had not used for a long time. In the deep, dark background, several sculptural onlookers are hidden. In the upper left corner of the painting is a barely discernible woman who could be the mother of the child. Next to her sits a man whose clothing suggests a wealthy family.

Instead of exaggerated shapes and expressions, there is a more subtle, thought-provoking way of expression. In terms of technique, in Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son, the strong and diffuse effect of light and shadow is achieved to a large extent through the technique of glazing. Glazing is a method of thinly dyeing transparent or translucent pigments by diluting them with toning oils or mediums. In other words, a thin layer of transparent pigment is used to cover the dried pigment on the bottom layer. Rembrandt used heavy lead carbonate to build up the light parts of the portrait and then used transparent pigments to cover the light parts and draw the dark parts, making the light parts brilliant and the dark parts deep and transparent. When we look at Rembrandt's masterpieces, the opaque white is on the bottom layer and then covered with transparent yellow and red, and the white on the bottom layer emits light, showing a brilliant effect as if the light comes not from outside but from the picture itself.

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