The feeling of boundless joy and love captured the father entirely, in fact, he does not even hug his son, since he no longer has the strength and his hand for this ...
The feeling of boundless joy and love captured the father entirely, in fact, he does not even hug his son, since he no longer has the strength for this and his hands are not able to press his son to him. He simply feels it, thereby forgiving and protecting. Art critic M. Alpatov considers the father to be the main character in the painting, and the prodigal son is just an excuse for the father to show his generosity. He even believes that the painting could be called "The Father Forgiving the Prodigal Son."
Self portrait by Rembrandt Harmes van Rijn (c. 1665)
From the book of Nadezhda Ionina "100 great paintings"
While working on the painting "Night Watch", Rembrandt's beloved wife Saskia died. Relatives of the deceased began to pursue the artist with litigation over the inheritance, trying to snatch part of the dowry bequeathed to Rembrandt by Saskia. But not only relatives persecuted Rembrandt. He was always besieged by creditors who attacked the great artist like a greedy pack. And in general, Rembrandt was never surrounded by honors, was never in the center of general attention, did not sit in the forefront, not a single poet during Rembrandt's lifetime sang of him. At official celebrations, on days of great festivities, they forgot about him. And he did not love and shun those who neglected him. The usual and beloved company was shopkeepers, philistines, peasants, artisans - the simplest people. He liked to visit the port taverns, where sailors, junk dealers, itinerant actors, petty thieves and their girlfriends had fun. He happily sat there for hours, watching the bustle and sometimes sketching interesting faces, which he then transferred to his canvases.
Now in the Amsterdam house, in which the great Rembrandt lived for more than 20 years, the Museum is located. And once this house was sold for debts. Rembrandt himself then sat at the court session with such an indifferent air, as if this matter did not concern him at all. He did not hear the speeches of the judge and the cries of creditors. His thoughts hovered so far from the meeting that he either could not answer this or that question of the judge, or his answers had no connection with the court case.
It was the turn of van der Piet, the artist's lawyer, to speak. Slowly and emphatically he outlined the situation. Cleverly, prudently and diligently defending Rembrandt's behavior, he appealed to the human feelings of creditors and to the judge's sense of justice. He threw convincing, caustic and passionate words: “Let those burn with shame who, in the name of insignificant sums of money, which do not threaten them with the slightest loss or misfortune, want to make Rembrandt a beggar! I, van der Piet, speak here not only as a debtor's lawyer, I speak on behalf of all mankind, which wants to ward off undeserved blows of fate from one of his great sons ... equal to Shakespeare! Think of all who are here - grave hills will cover us, we will disappear from the memory of our descendants, and the name of Rembrandt will thunder over the world for another century, and his shining works will be the pride of the whole earth!
Yes, Rembrandt’s paintings are undoubtedly the pinnacle of Dutch painting, and in the artist’s own work, one of such peaks was the painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” He painted it in the last year of his life, when he was already old, poor, mortally ill and infirm, lived in hunger and cold. And yet, in defiance of fate, he wrote, wrote and wrote in the country and city, which he glorified forever.
The Return of the Prodigal Son Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn 1669
The theme for painting the picture was the well-known gospel parable, which tells how, after long wanderings around the world, the prodigal son returned with unfulfilled hopes to his father who had been abandoned by him. This story attracted many artists long before Rembrandt. The masters of the Renaissance saw the reconciliation of a father with a disobedient son as a beautiful and entertaining spectacle. So, in the picture of the Venetian artist Bonifacio, the action takes place in front of a rich estate, in front of a crowded, discharged crowd. Netherlandish artists were attracted more by the test that the rebellious son was subjected to in a foreign land (for example, the scene when a wicked man descended in a barnyard among pigs was ready to atone for his sins with a pious prayer).
Rembrandt's theme of the "prodigal son" accompanied for many years of his life. He referred to this plot as early as 1636, when he was working on an etching under the same name. In his paintings on biblical and gospel subjects, the artist rarely depicted scenes of passions or miracles, he was more attracted to stories about people's everyday life, especially scenes from patriarchal family life. For the first time, the story of the prodigal son was presented by Rembrandt in an engraving, in which he transferred the biblical story to a Dutch setting and depicted the son as a bony, half-naked creature. The drawing also dates back to this time, in which the father energetically squeezes the shaggy head of the penitent son with his hand: even at the moment of reconciliation, he wants to show his paternal authority.
Rembrandt returned to this theme many times, and over the years he presented it differently each time. In the early versions, the son violently expresses his repentance and humility. In a series of later drawings, the spiritual impulses of father and son are not so exposed, the element of edification disappears. Subsequently, Rembrandt began to be occupied with an almost accidental meeting of an old father and son, in which the forces of human love and forgiveness are just ready to be revealed. Sometimes it was a lonely old man, sitting in a spacious room, before him his wicked son knelt down. Sometimes it is an old man who goes out into the street, where an unexpected meeting awaits him; or else his son comes up to him and holds him tightly in his arms.
After 30 years, the artist creates a composition that is less detailed, narrative, in which the emphasis is shifted to the old father. The plot of the painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son" is not directly related to the previous sketches, but it was in it that Rembrandt put all his creative experience and perhaps the most important thing from life experience. Rembrandt thoughtfully read the biblical story, but he was not a simple illustrator who seeks to reproduce the text exactly. He got used to the parable so much, as if he himself had witnessed what happened, and this gave him the right to tell what was left unsaid.
Several people gathered in a small area in front of the house. Ragged, beggarly, in rags girded with rope, with the shaved head of a convict, the prodigal son is on his knees and hides his face on the old man's chest. Overwhelmed with shame and remorse, he, perhaps for the first time in many years, felt the warmth of a human embrace. And the father, leaning towards the "tramp", with careful tenderness presses him to himself. His senile, unsteady hands lie affectionately on his son's back. This minute in its psychological state is equal to eternity, in front of both of them are the years that they spent without each other and brought so much mental anguish. It seems that suffering has already broken them so much that the joy of meeting did not bring relief.
The meeting of father and son takes place, as it were, at the junction of two spaces: a porch is guessed in the distance and behind it a cozy father's house. In front of the picture, it is implied and invisibly present the boundless space of the roads traveled by the son, the world alien and turned out to be hostile to him. The figures of father and son make up a closed group, under the influence of the feeling that gripped them, they seemed to have merged together. Rising above the kneeling son, the father touches him with soft movements of the hands. His face, hands, posture - everything speaks of peace and happiness, found after many years of painful waiting. The forehead of the father, as it were, radiates light, and this is the brightest place in the picture. Nothing breaks the focused silence. Those present are watching the meeting of father and son with intense attention. Among them, a man standing on the right in a red cloak stands out, whose figure, as it were, connects the main characters with the people around them. The person standing behind closely follows what is happening. The gaze of his wide-open eyes suggests that he, too, was imbued with all the importance and seriousness of the moment. A woman standing at a distance looks at the father and son with sincere sympathy. It is difficult to say who these people are. Perhaps Rembrandt did not strive for an individual characterization of those present, since they serve only as an addition to the main group.
Rembrandt long and persistently searched for the figure of the prodigal son, already in the prototypes of numerous drawings and sketches, the prodigal son is guessed. In the picture, he is perhaps the only hero in classical painting who has completely turned away from the audience. The young man traveled a lot, experienced and experienced a lot: his head is covered with scabs, his shoes are worn out. One of them fell off his foot, and the viewer sees his hardened heel. He barely reached the threshold of his father's house and, exhausted, knelt down. A rough shoe that fell off his foot eloquently speaks of how long the path was traveled, what humiliations he was subjected to. The viewer does not have the opportunity to see his face, but following the prodigal son, he also, as it were, enters the picture and falls to his knees.
Before Great Lent, the Church remembers the parable of Christ about the prodigal son.
One man had two sons. The youngest of them said to his father: “Father! give me the part of the property that I will follow.” The father complied with his request. After a few days, the youngest son, having collected everything, went to a distant country and there, living dissolutely, squandered all his property.
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Gerrit van Honthorst. Prodigal son. 1622
When he had lived it all, there came a great famine in that country, and he began to be in need.
Exile of the prodigal son. Bartolomeo Murillo. 1660
And he went and joined (i.e., joined) one of the inhabitants of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
Hungry, he would have been glad to eat the horns that the pigs ate; but no one gave it to him.
Then, having come to his senses, he remembered his father, repented of his deed and thought: “How many hirelings (workers) from my father eat bread in excess, and I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; accept me as one of your hired hands."
And so he did. He got up and went home to his father. And when he was still far away, his father saw him and took pity on him. The father himself ran to meet his son, fell on his neck, kissed him. The son began to say: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
The return of the prodigal son. Bartolomeo Murillo 1667-1670
Prodigal son. James Tissot
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Return of the prodigal son
But he answered his father: “Behold, I have served you for so many years and have never transgressed (did not violate) your orders; but you never gave me a kid to play with my friends. And when this son of yours came, having dissolutely squandered his property, you slaughtered a fattened calf for him.
The father said to him: “My son! you are always with me, and all mine is yours. And you should have rejoiced and rejoiced because your brother was dead and is alive again; lost and found."
In this parable, the father is God, and the prodigal son is the repentant sinner. Every person is like the prodigal son, who with his soul moves away from God and indulges in a self-willed, sinful life; with his sins, he destroys his soul and all the gifts (life, health, strength, abilities) that he received from God. When a sinner, having come to his senses, brings sincere repentance to God, with humility and with hope for His mercy, then the Lord, as a merciful Father, rejoices with His angels at the conversion of the sinner, forgives him all his iniquities (sins), no matter how great they may be, and return to him His favors and gifts.
With the story of the eldest son, the Savior teaches that every believing Christian should wholeheartedly wish everyone salvation, rejoice at the conversion of sinners, not envy God's love for them and not consider themselves worthy of God's mercy more than those who turn to God from their former lawless life.
Text: Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy
Images: Open sources
Baroque painting
Painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn “The Return of the Prodigal Son”. The size of the painting is 262 x 205 cm, oil on canvas. From the Paris collection of Duke Antoine d "Ansejun in 1766. The parable of the prodigal son, repeatedly used by Rembrandt in engraving, drawing and painting, is at the center of that understanding of humanity, which is personified by the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount, with its poetic dialectic of sin and repentance, confidence in trust and saving love for one's neighbor, with its anti-dogmatic, effectively bursting into life, truly creative solidarity.Therefore, it is not surprising that this parable became Rembrandt's closest theme.
This picture, undoubtedly crowning his later work and aspirations, about the repentant return of his son, about the disinterested forgiveness of his father, clearly and convincingly exposes the deep humanity of the story. (However, the dating is disputable; instead of 1668-1669, a proposal was made by art historians G. Gerson, I. Linnik to date the painting to 1661 or 1663). The picture is dominated by "only one figure - the father, depicted in front, with a wide, blessing gesture of his hands, which he almost symmetrically puts on his son's shoulders. This one, depicted from the back, kneels before his father, forming with him a monumental group that could be cast in bronze. Nowhere was the unifying human power of monumental forms manifested with such a feeling. The father is a dignified old man, with noble features, dressed in regal-sounding red robes.
But even this monumentality in Rembrandt disintegrates, washed away by a powerful stream of humanity poured onto this seemingly so firmly soldered block. From the noble head of the father, from his precious attire, our gaze descends to the shaved bald, criminal skull of the son, to his rags hanging randomly on the body, to the soles of the feet, boldly exposed towards the viewer, blocking his gaze ... The group overturns at its top. A father who puts his hands on his son's dirty shirt as if he is performing a sacred sacrament, shocked by the depth of feeling, he should hold on to his son as well as hold him ...
Secondary figures of brothers and sisters are also present in the picture, but do not take any part in the action. They are only on the border of what is happening, only enchanted silent witnesses, only the surrounding disappearing world ... ”(Richard Hamann). According to researcher Bob Haack, perhaps Rembrandt "depicted these figures only in sketches, and another artist finished them", in the painting of the main group, as in the "Jewish Bride", form and spirit were inimitably united. Everything here is truly and highly symbolic: the block-like and at the same time internally unstable unity of the figures of father and son, pouring from one element into another, the rhombic, diamond-cut framing of the son’s head with the father’s hands, probing the gesture of the hands, this irreplaceable human organ. “Everything that these hands have experienced - joys, sufferings, hopes and fears, everything that they created or destroyed, that they loved or hated, all this is expressed in this silent embrace” (Germain Bazin). And, finally, this all-encompassing, full of consolation and forgiveness, the red color of the cloak, the sonorous core of Rembrandt's "testament to humanity" (Hamann), this dying trace of a selfless, humane soul, this call to action, the red color of hope, the promising light of love.
Perhaps no other painting by Rembrandt inspires such lofty feelings as this picture. In world art there are few works of such intense emotional impact as the monumental Hermitage painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son."
The story is taken from the New Testament.
The return of the prodigal son - this is a feeling of boundless joy of the family and fatherly protection. Perhaps, therefore, it is possible to call the main character the father, and not the prodigal son, who became the reason for the manifestation of generosity. Ethen sorrow for the lost youth, regret that it is impossible to return the lost days.
This story attracted many famous predecessors of Rembrandt: Durer, Bosch, Luke of Leiden, Rubens.
The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1669. Oil on canvas, 262x206.
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
One man had two sons. The younger son wanted to get his part of the estate, and the father divided the estate among his sons. Soon the youngest son gathered everything he had and went to a distant country. There he squandered all his wealth on a dissolute life. In the end, he was in dire need and was forced to work as a swineherd.
He was so hungry that he was ready to fill his stomach with slop that was given to pigs. But he was deprived of this too, because. famine began in the country. And then he thought: “How many servants are there in my father's house and there is enough food for all of them. And I'm dying of hunger here. I will go back to my father and say that I have sinned against heaven and against it.” And he returned home. When he was still far away, his father saw him, and he felt sorry for his son. He ran to meet him, hugged him and began to kiss.
He said: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants: “Go quickly, bring him the best clothes and dress him. Put a ring on his hand and put on sandals. Bring a fattened calf and slaughter it. Let's make a feast and celebrate. After all, my son was dead, and now he is alive again! He was lost and now found!” And they began to celebrate.
The eldest son was in the field at that time. When he approached the house, he heard that there was music and dancing in the house. He called one of the servants and asked what was going on there. “Your brother came,” answered the servant, “and your father slaughtered a fattened calf, because his son is healthy and everything is fine with him.”
The eldest son was angry and did not even want to go into the house. Then the father came out and begged him. But the son said: “All these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have always done everything you said. But you never slaughtered even a goat for me so that I could have fun with my friends.
But when this son of yours, who had squandered all your property in debauchery, returned home, you slaughtered a fattened calf for him!” "My son! - Then the father said, - you are always with me, and everything that I have is all yours. But we should rejoice that your brother was dead, and now he is alive again, was lost and found!”
The religious meaning of the parable is this: no matter how a person sins, repentance will always be rewarded with joyful forgiveness.
ABOUT THE PICTURE
This picture, undoubtedly crowning the late work of Rembrandt, about the repentant return of the son, about the disinterested forgiveness of the father, clearly and convincingly exposes the deep humanity of the story.
Rembrandt highlights the main thing in the picture with light, focusing our attention on it. The compositional center is located almost at the edge of the picture. The artist balances the composition with a figure standing on the right.
As always, the artist's imagination painted everything that was happening very concretely. There is not a single place in the vast canvas that is not filled with the subtlest changes in color. The action takes place at the entrance to the house to our right, covered with ivy and veiled in darkness.
The prodigal son, who collapsed on his knees before his decrepit father, having reached the last stage of poverty and humiliation in his wanderings, is an image that embodies the tragic path of knowing life with amazing power. The wanderer is wearing clothes that were once rich, but now turned into sackcloth. The left of his tattered sandals fell off his foot.
But it is not the eloquence of the narrative that determines the impression of this picture. In majestic, strict images, the depth and tension of feelings are revealed here, and Rembrandt achieves this in the complete absence of dynamics - in fact, action - in the whole picture.
FATHER AND SON
The picture is dominated by “only one figure - the father, depicted in front, with a wide, blessing gesture of his hands, which he almost symmetrically puts on the shoulders of his son.
The father is a dignified old man, with noble features, dressed in regal-sounding red robes. Take a closer look at this man - he seems older than time itself, and his blind eyes are inexplicable just like the young man's rags written in gold. The dominant position of the father in the picture is confirmed by both silent triumph and hidden splendor. It reflects compassion, forgiveness and love.
A father who puts his hands on his son's dirty shirt as if he is performing a sacred sacrament, shocked by the depth of feeling, he should hold on to his son as well as hold him ...
From the noble head of the father, from his precious attire, our gaze descends to the shaved bald, criminal skull of the son, to his rags randomly hanging on the body, to the soles of the feet, boldly exposed towards the viewer, blocking his gaze ..
The master placed the main figures at the junction of the picturesque and the real spaces (later the canvas was added below, but according to the author's intention, its lower edge passed at the level of the toes kneeling son.
At present, the picture has become very dark, and therefore, in normal light, only the foreground is distinguishable in it, a narrow stage platform with a group of father and son on the left and a tall wanderer in a red cloak, who is standing to our right on the last - second - step of the porch. A mysterious light pours from the depths of the twilight behind the canvas.
He gently envelops the figure, as if blinded before our eyes, of the old father, who stepped out of the darkness to meet us, and the son, who, with his back to us, fell to the knees of the old man, asking for forgiveness. But there are no words. Only the hands, the sighted hands of the father gently feel the dear flesh. The silent tragedy of recognition, returned love, so skillfully conveyed by the artist.
SECONDARY FIGURES
In addition to the father and son, 4 more characters are depicted in the picture. These are dark silhouettes that are hardly distinguishable against a dark background, but who they are remains a mystery. Some called them "brothers and sisters" of the protagonist. It is characteristic that Rembrandt avoids conflict: the parable speaks of the jealousy of an obedient son, and the harmony of the picture is not broken in any way.
The woman in the upper left corner
Figure, which resembles an allegory of Love, and, in addition, has a red heart-shaped medallion. Perhaps this is an image of the mother of the prodigal son.
Two figures in the background, located in the center (apparently female, possibly a maid.A seated young man with a mustache, if you follow the plot of the parable, may be a second, obedient brother.
The attention of researchers is riveted by the figure of the last witness, located on the right side of the picture. She plays an important role in the composition and is written almost as vividly as the main characters. His face expresses sympathy, and the traveling cloak put on him and staff in the hands suggest that this, like the prodigal son, is a lonely wanderer.
There is another version that the two figures on the right side of the picture: a young man in a beret and a standing man are the same father and son that are depicted on the other half, but only before the prodigal son leaves the house towards revelry. Thus, the canvas, as it were, combines two chronological plans. The opinion was expressed that these two figures are the image of the publican and the Pharisee from the gospel parable.
Flutist
In profile, in the form of a bas-relief on the right side of the standing witness, a musician is depicted playing the flute. His figure, perhaps, is reminiscent of music, which in a few moments will fill the father's house with the sounds of joy. t.
The circumstances of writing the canvas are mysterious. It is believed that it was written in the last years of the artist's life. Changes and corrections of the original intent of the painting, visible on the x-ray, testify to the authenticity of the canvas.
Drawing from 1642
Rembrandt The Return of the Prodigal Son. Etching on paper, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
How did this painting get to Russia?
Prince Dmitry Alekseevich Golitsyn bought it on behalf of Catherine II for the Hermitage in 1766 from Andre d'Ansezen, the last Duke of Cadrus. And he, in turn, inherited the painting from his wife, whose grandfather, Charles Colbert, carried out diplomatic missions for Louis XIV in Holland and most likely acquired it there.
Rembrandt died at 63 in complete solitude, but discovered painting as a path to the best of all worlds, as the unity of the existence of image and thought.
His work of recent years is not only a reflection on the meanings of the biblical story about the prodigal son, but also the ability to accept oneself without anything and forgive oneself before seeking forgiveness from God or higher powers.
