The Return of the Prodigal Son

The ruined son kneels, shaven and in rags, into his old father's robes; the father's hands — one strong, one gentle — rest on his back while the elder brother watches from the dark.

Why it matters

Rembrandt's last word on the subject he understood best: forgiveness, painted by a man who had lost fortune, wife and children.

What to notice

Look at the two hands — many see a father's and a mother's hand in one embrace. The son's scarred bare foot tells the whole journey.

Context

Painted in Rembrandt's final years; Henri Nouwen spent days before it in the Hermitage and wrote a book on this canvas alone.

About the artist

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669). The miller's son from Leiden became Amsterdam's most sought-after portraitist, went bankrupt, and kept painting — turning his own aging face into the most sustained self-examination in art.

Baroque (c. 1600–1750): After the upheavals of the Reformation, painting turned dramatic: raking light, deep shadow, saints and sinners caught mid-gesture. From Caravaggio's Roman taverns to the merchant interiors of the Dutch Golden Age, the Baroque made painting an art of immediacy.

Walk the Grand Gallery → See this painting hung in its wing, with music and guided tours, in the full virtual museum.