The painting by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn "The Return of the Prodigal Son" was painted in 1668, its fundamental plot is a parable from the Bible about the prodigal son, who left his family in a long search for a better life. The picture itself tells the final part of the story, when the son returned home, but already a completely different person. The artist chose this moment for a reason; it contains the main content of the parable and the end of the story. It seems to me that Rembrandt wanted to go straight to the main idea, but he expressed all his thoughts in only one picture.

Indeed, just looking at the work, we see a touching and long-awaited meeting, a son with his father. It is impossible not to notice the impulse of repentance, the prodigal son, how he bowed before his parent and clung so tightly to him. The artist skillfully expressed the deplorable state of his son, this is especially noticeable against the background of the contrast of colors. Each character in the picture is dressed in pretty decent clothes, bright colors, unlike the main character, who is dressed in a simple peasant shirt, gray. But as we know from the parable, the son left home quite wealthy.

Above all, you should pay attention to the father, whose image gives the picture softness and kindness. This time we can clearly see the hero's face, it is filled with calmness and some kind of pity, the color scheme is distinguished by soft and warm shades. It is worth noting the figure of the father, she is wide and full, in general, he looks like a kind fat man. The main scene is flooded with white light coming from the left side, we can assume there is a door through which the prodigal son entered. The rest of the surrounding space is made in negative colors, a certain combination of black and red is noticeable, which brings a very negative feeling. It seems to me that the author used this scheme to create a contrast between the main event and the surrounding space.

Summing up our analysis, I would like to say that I personally did not like the picture very much. Most likely, this is due to the fact that the work is done in rather dark shades. But the skill of the great artist is clearly visible here, and for good reason, this work of art, written in 1668, still amazes with its magnificence.

Description of the painting by Rembrandt The Return of the Prodigal Son

Many European artists painted on religious themes. In Rus', it was more customary to paint icons and there were not so many religious paintings, since they still belong more to art, and not to religion, and in Russia they have always adhered to strict spirituality.

Rembrandt is a Dutch artist, he paints a lot of beautiful works, some of them are known to me and almost everywhere people's emotions are amazingly conveyed and shadows are also amazingly displayed. In fact, not many artists can paint light and shadow like that, but Rembrandt succeeded. On this canvas, these facts are also noticeable, there are excellent shadows and many emotions.

Of course, the parable of the prodigal son is entirely symbolic. Jesus told a simple story about how the son left home, but then returned and the father accepted him, despite any shortcomings. In this parable, the father is the Lord Almighty, and the son is a collective image of a person (or even a sinner) who repents and returns to the true faith.

The picture of the Dutch painter represents the completion of this story. The repentant son is on his knees, and the father presses him, hugs him and bows his head a little. These postures and facial expressions speak of deep and rather bright emotions: forgiveness, mercy, sincerity.

In the background, we see some domestic servants and, possibly, other relatives of the protagonist. These people fix their eyes on the main character - a repentant young man, and these views are full of compassion and kindness. By the way, thanks to these views, Rembrandt achieves an interesting volume and compositional effect, the rays of attention of the characters in the picture seem to converge on the main character and the viewer also brings his gaze to him.

Although in general this picture speaks of kindness and forgiveness, the composition and color scheme seem somehow gloomy and a little harsh to me. Moreover, the deep symbolism from the parable of Christ is translated here into some kind of banal philistine story.

Description of the mood of the painting by Rembrandt - The Return of the Prodigal Son

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On the plot of the New Testament parable of the prodigal son, exhibited in the Hermitage.

The painting depicts the final episode of the parable, when the prodigal son returns home, “and while he was still far away, his father saw him and took pity; and, running, fell on his neck and kissed him, ”and his elder righteous brother, who remained with his father, became angry and did not want to enter.

The plot attracted the attention of Rembrandt's famous predecessors: Dürer, Bosch, Luke of Leiden, Rubens.

This is the largest painting by Rembrandt on a religious theme.

Several people gathered in a small area in front of the house. On the left side of the picture, a kneeling prodigal son is depicted with his back to the viewer. His face is not visible, the head is written in profil perdu. The father gently touches his son's shoulders, embracing him. The picture is a classic example of a composition where the main thing is strongly shifted from the central axis of the picture for the most accurate disclosure of the main idea of ​​the work. “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 the figure of the eldest son standing on the right. Placing the main semantic center at one third of the distance in height corresponds to the law of the golden section, which since ancient times has been used by artists to achieve the greatest expressiveness of their creations.

Shaved like a convict, the head of the prodigal son and his shabby clothes testify to the fall. The collar keeps a hint of former luxury. The shoes are worn out, and a touching detail - one fell when the son knelt down. In the depths, a porch is guessed and behind it the father's house. The master placed the main figures at the junction of pictorial and real spaces (later the canvas was placed at the bottom, but according to the author's intention, its lower edge passed at the level of the kneeling son's toes). “The depth of space is conveyed by a consistent weakening of light and shade and color contrasts, starting from the foreground. In fact, it is built by the figures of witnesses to the scene of forgiveness, gradually dissolving in the twilight. “We have a decentralized composition with the main group (event node) on the left and a caesura separating it from the group of event witnesses on the right. The event causes the participants in the scene to react differently. The plot is built according to the compositional scheme “response”.

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.

Hermitage employee Irina Linnik believes that Rembrandt's painting has a prototype in the woodcut by Cornelis Antonissen (1541), in which the kneeling son and father are also depicted surrounded by figures. But on the engraving these figures are inscribed - Faith, Hope, Love, Repentance and Truth. In the heavens, an engraving in Greek, Hebrew and Latin says "God". The X-ray of the Hermitage canvas showed the initial similarity of the Rembrandt painting with the details of the mentioned engraving. However, a direct analogy cannot be drawn - the painting has only a vague resemblance to one of Antonissen's allegories (the farthest and almost disappearing in the dark), 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.

The two figures in the background, located in the center (apparently female, possibly a servant or another personified allegory; and male), are more difficult to guess. A seated young man with a mustache, if you follow the plot of the parable, may be a second, obedient brother. There is speculation that the second brother is actually the previous "female" figure hugging the column. And, perhaps, this is not just a column - in shape it resembles a pillar of the Jerusalem temple and can well symbolize a pillar of the Law, and the fact that a righteous brother is hiding behind it acquires a symbolic sound.

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A. Demkin
The painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son" as a Mirror of Life by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn.

© 2010-2011, Andrey Demkin, St. Petersburg.
Reprinting or other full or partial reproduction of the material is permitted only with the written permission of the author.

Painting is one of the most complex and most beautiful forms of art. Nothing can so instantly, in an instant, change the mood of a person, take him away from the hustle and bustle of the day, as just a glance thrown at a picturesque landscape or a genre scene. Just one look - and your breath is already filled with fresh mountain air or the scent of lilacs. Just one look - and you hear the creaking of the masts, the fluttering of the sails and feel the oily smell of the deck of the ship. Just a few moments - and your soul is suddenly freed from the burden of problems and worries, which turn out to be negligible against the backdrop of a picturesque canvas. Having lingered in front of him for a second or even a minute, you suddenly begin to feel a new wonderful taste on your lips - this canvas gave you a magical kiss of beauty, the very one that instantly fills you from the inside and makes you remember the beauty of the sky, the grandeur of the old oak and beautiful naivety of youth.
A whole world created by the artist is hidden in the picturesque image. It can be something abstract, at first glance, has no analogues in ordinary everyday life. It can also be a completely realistic representation of a corner of the earth familiar to you. It could just as well be a still life. In any case, all these images went through an amazing refraction through the soul of the artist, and acquired their own unique radiance, whether taste, aroma or sound - depending on how you perceive the painting. For many, according to the apt expression of the St. Petersburg artist Vladimir Gruzdev, painting is “that ideal interlocutor who, having forgotten all the words, will help you become yourself.”

How does this happen? The refraction of the subject of the image by the soul of the artist has a truly magical effect on the viewer. The picture acts as a kind of mediator, a “magic crystal”, concentrating and coding the artist’s experiences and feelings and carrying its message to those who are able to consciously or unconsciously perceive it from the artist (which, I would like to note, does not mean “understand” at all). Such a “spiritualized” painting has a complex multi-level effect on a person. The viewer can perceive the impact of the entire image created on the canvas, or only part of it. The viewer can perceive a detached - the second imaginary meaning, which does not at all follow from the actual content of the work of art. And finally, the viewer may be under the impression of internal images, born in the depths of his subconscious, that are not connected with either the actual or the imaginary symbolic meaning of the picture. At the conscious level of perception, the viewer does not simply “register” the elements of the work in his mind, but recognizes them, comprehends them to the best of his intellectual abilities, and reacts, giving an emotionally colored assessment of the significant models of the structure of the picture. The artist and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky wrote about a special kind of influence on the viewer of the emotions of the artist’s soul, the “vibrations” of which cause the corresponding mental vibration of the viewer. Such an impact of a painting causes a complex reaction of a person at the level of the psyche, physiology, behavior and even personality, which is called the "aesthetic reaction". Within its framework, contact with a painting can lead to awareness and resolution of internal conflicts, launch the mechanisms of personal transformation, increase personal opportunities and give a person new motives for activity or just life.

Of great importance in the formation of an aesthetic reaction can be hidden information layers, unconsciously embedded by the artist in his pictorial work, which can be perceived by the viewer at an extraconscious level. Such hidden visual-informational investments, which are a symbolic reflection of the dominant conscious or unconscious experiences of the artist during the creation of the picture, are called "visual archetypes" or "prototypes". In some successful cases, when analyzing a painting, such a hidden prototype can be made available for visual perception with the help of special image processing in a graphic editor, using ideas about the physiology of human vision.

A very interesting example of a painting containing a strong "hidden" prototype is Rembrandt's famous painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son", kept in the State Hermitage. In it, the content of the prototype, embedded in the picture by the artist on an unconscious level, confirms the hidden image, identical in meaning, that the artist placed on the canvas quite consciously.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born in Leiden on July 15, 1606 in a miller's family and lived in Holland for all his 63 years. When Rembrandt was fourteen years old, he graduated from the Latin school, and his father - Harmens Herritz van Rijn sent him to the University of Leiden to study law.
However, after a few months of study, the young man realized that he was not doing his job and went as an apprentice to the artist Jacob van Swanenburg. The artist taught Rembrandt the basics of drawing and painting, introduced him to the history of art. Rembrandt, after studying for three years with van Swanenburg, moved to Amsterdam in 1623 and became an apprentice to the painter Pieter Lastman. Possessing a natural artistic talent, Rembrandt quickly surpassed his teacher in skill.
Just six months later, he returned to Leiden, and opened an art workshop not far from the workshop of his friend Jan Lievens. Soon the first students appear in it.

At the end of 1631, Rembrandt, already a well-known portrait painter and author of historical paintings, moved to Amsterdam. One of his debut works in Amsterdam is the painting "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. N. Tulp" (1632, The Hague, Mauritshuis). This work aroused great interest, and Rembrandt soon became one of the fashionable young portrait painters in Amsterdam. He commissioned historical and biblical paintings and painted portraits of wealthy burghers, their wives and children. In portrait works, he perfectly revealed the psychological state of a person, which also contributed to his popularity. Growing income from painting subsequently even allowed him to take up collecting, which eventually turned into a passion. In June 1634, Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenburg, daughter of the late Mayor Leeuwarden and cousin of the successful art dealer Hendrik van Uylenburg, of which he was a member of the academy. New family ties helped to get good orders. Saskia received a decent inheritance, for which the couple bought a large house, where Rembrandt set up his studio.

By the end of the 1930s, Rembrandt was a popular and highly paid painter, with about 60 commissioned works and 15 students. However, what did the artist represent as a person? Contemporaries spoke of Rembrandt as a man with excessive pride and a complex character: quarrelsome, selfish and arrogant, capable of betrayal and very vindictive, who resorted to all possible methods of dealing with those who stood in his way. The Italian Baldinucci wrote about him: "He was a first-class eccentric who despised everyone ... busy with work, he would not agree to accept the very first monarch in the world, and he would have to leave."
Throughout his life, Rembrandt had to endure a number of difficult trials. When the artist was 29 years old, his son Rumbarthus died. Three years later, in 1638, his first daughter, Cornelia, died. After another 2 years - in 1640 - his mother Neltje van Rijn died and the second daughter - also named Cornelia. On this, fate did not leave Rembrandt alone: ​​in 1641, in the year of the birth of his son Titus, Saskia's aunt, Titia, died. In 1642, death takes Saskia herself. In the will, the heir to the entire fortune - about 40,000 florins - Saskia, knowing the wasteful nature of her husband, appointed her son Titus, and Rembrandt was only allowed to use his wife's property for life.

After the 1640s, Rembrandt gradually began to lose his popularity with the Amsterdam public. This was partly due to the evolution of the artistic tastes of the Amsterdam public, and partly due to the decline in demand for painting due to the first Anglo-Dutch war (1652-1654). In addition, clients began to notice that Rembrandt worked to satisfy his own aspirations rather than listen to their wishes.

Soon, at the age of 50, Rembrandt went bankrupt, and a year later all his property and works were sold at auction. In 1658 the house had to be sold as well. A new personal relationship with the nanny of the son of Titus, the widow Girtier Dirks, which began in 1642, ended in tragedy. After living with Girtje for six years, Rembrandt, with the help of her brother, put the woman in a mental hospital. He did this after Girtier filed a lawsuit against him for an unfulfilled promise to marry. If Rembrandt married a second time, he would most likely lose the rights to a small income from the estate of Saskia (her two brothers were lawyers). When the opportunity presented itself for Girtje to leave this institution, Rembrandt hired an agent to collect information, thanks to which this woman again remained within the walls of the shelter for many years. Rembrandt was so vengeful that for some time he stopped painting altogether. A little earlier, Rembrandt became friends with the twenty-year-old maid Hendrikje Stoffels, who served as a model for many of his works. As a result of cohabitation with Hendrtkje, a daughter, Cornelia, and a son were born, who died in 1652. However, Rembrandt was destined to survive his third love: in 1663, Hendertke died at the age of about forty. A year before Rembrandt's death in 1668, his son Titus died seven months after his marriage. Rembrandt's granddaughter, Tizia, was born after the death of her son, and soon Rembrandt also buried his daughter-in-law, remaining completely alone at the end of his life.

All these misfortunes influenced the style of the artist. In the second half of his life, Rembrandt began to paint more landscapes and began to depict people with a special penetrating feeling, abandoning deliberate pretentiousness. True human values ​​and the refraction of Biblical stories through oneself occupied his soul. How has the self-perception of the artist changed? To get an answer to this question, it is enough to compare Rembrandt's self-portraits at different periods of his life.

A self-portrait is a means of feedback for the artist, allowing him to assess his current state. It is no coincidence that artists love to paint them so much. Self-portrait plays an important role in the artist's self-identification, that is, in the process of a person's awareness of the most important life question "who am I at this stage", and bringing himself in line with the "current present". Self-identification is the most important moment of spiritual life, the dialogue of a person with himself (more precisely, the communication of the conscious part of himself with the unconscious part, through the perception of signs and symbols from his mirror double), when at one point - in the present, the analyzed and evaluated past merges and a personal future is constructed. A self-portrait allows the artist to form a space around the self-portrait, in which the artist can always rely on his own image, reflecting a stable self-esteem and a certain stable emotional state. Contact with one's own self-portrait can cause unexpected insights, in which repressed painful experiences “break through” to the level of consciousness. A self-portrait can form a real or elusive goal for the artist in his own development, serve as compensation for his own painful experiences.

In total, Rembrandt made about a hundred self-portraits in the form of drawings, engravings and paintings. His early self-portraits are very diverse - one can see the search for oneself in trying on different social roles, a rich range of captured emotional states. We chose Rembrandt's famous self-portraits for consideration and divided them into two groups: the period before the death of his wife in 1642 and the period after the main life upheavals.

In the self-portraits of the first group, created between 1629 and 1640, we see the transformation of the artist's inner self-image. The youthful self-portrait represents the image of an inexperienced, somewhat rustic Rembrandt, hunched over from uncertainty. His eyebrows are raised in surprise, his eyes are wide open, his mouth is parted, his hair is tousled. His eyes, like most of his face, are in shadow, as if hiding from the viewer.
Interestingly, Rembrandt's friend Jan Lievens at the same time (1629) presented the artist in a portrait in a completely different way. With the obvious similarity of facial features, a completely different character is revealed before us: a brightly lit face, a slightly arrogant tilt of the head, a glance at the viewer flows a little from above. Rembrandt's lips are a little "pouted", as are his cheeks. With all his appearance, the person portrayed wants to show contentment with life, and his small, but superiority. What a big difference between the external impression and the internal self-image.
An insecure person often tries to present to others a self-satisfied mask that serves as a means of psychological protection for easily vulnerable self-esteem. However, Jan Lievens noticed and emphasized Rembrandt's desire for protection, depicting deaf, laconic clothes, a plate collar, and a tight scarf around his neck. While in the self-portrait Rembrandt appears much "open" - with an open collar of an elegant collar.

In a self-portrait made a year later, we see the same inexperienced kind young man, but with a much calmer look with a hint of a half-smile on his lips. He is no longer afraid of the viewer and opens his whole face to him. But a great existential anxiety still wanders in his eyes: the artist wants to know what awaits him in the future, whether his path will be different from the many paths already traveled in this world.
In the period 1630-31. Rembrandt created several self-portraits in the etching technique, known as: "The Surprised Rembrandt", "Rembrandt Looking Over His Shoulder", "Rembrandt with Disheveled Hair", "Rembrandt in a Fur Hat". The various emotional states captured in these works tell of the ongoing search for one's own identity, attempts to find a wearable mask that would satisfy the needs of psychological security, combined with the need for adequate self-expression.

A self-portrait of 1632 presents Rembrandt already as a resident of Amsterdam, an accomplished author of a famous painting. We see a hat, partly borrowed from a self-portrait of Rubens (1623), elegant gold buttons on a beautiful camisole, but still the same half-childish face with raised eyebrows and wide eyes. The upper part of the face seems to be asking: “Is it me?”, And the lower part, with a slightly protruding lower jaw for the importance, with deliberate thorough slowness, answers: “Of course you are!”.
It is obvious that the move to Amsterdam, the acquisition of fame and material wealth, acquaintance with Saskia and entry into the highest circles of society had a significant impact on the artist's self-esteem. In a self-portrait made in 1634, we see the artist in expensive furs and velvet. Material success has already been achieved, the naivety of earlier portraits is no longer there, the artist’s eyebrows are slightly frowning to keep the viewer at a distance from the almost noble gentleman, but, from the artist’s open lips, a question seems to fly off, which is also read in his eyes full of doubt: “ Am I on the right track?

1635 brought the first great loss: just two months after Rembrandt's birth, his son Rumbarthus died. A self-portrait of this time (1635-1636) is known as "Self-portrait with Saskia on her knees". Let's try to analyze the psychological state of the artist, reflected in this work. Many authors have described this self-portrait as "joyful" or "arrogant", proclaiming it "an anthem to human happiness", filled with "stormy temperament, magnificent vitality, passionate intoxication with all the blessings of being." Indeed, on the canvas we see a rich gentleman in a fringed camisole, in a hat in the “Austrian taste”, with a sword with a golden hilt, who only for a moment looked up from his reckless feast and, without removing his hand from the beauty’s back, raised his glass, welcoming the viewer . But, if you look a little more closely, you will find that this is only the outer side - the "facade" or "mask" of the depicted psychological situation.

There are two people in front of us in the picture. Both of them turned their backs to the viewer, and as if involuntarily turned around when they were called. Their poses are tense - both are clearly waiting for the seconds of decency to be counted and it will be possible to turn away into the depths of the canvas, hiding their inner world and looking at a strange board hanging on the wall in the left corner of the picture.

Il. No. 6. "Self-portrait with Saskia on her knees"
1635-1636
161 x 131 cm
Canvas, oil
Dresden. Art Gallery

The face of the man in the picture is clearly edematous - either from a long rampant drunkenness, or from the tears he cried the day before. He does not look at the viewer. His gaze is defocused - a slight divergent squint is noticeable in the picture. The face is distorted in a forced grimace, which can hardly be called a smile - the man's eyes do not smile. The upper lip has turned into a thin strip. Nor is the woman on the artist's lap smiling. Her eyes are rather sad. There is no trace of joy on these faces. We prevent them from forgetting their grief in wine. Another moment, and they will turn their backs on us.

What kind of board on the wall appears to their eyes? The art historian A. Kamensky suggested that this was a slate board that hung in the taverns of the 17th century, where they counted what they drank and what they ate. The author of the study makes the assumption that Rembrandt depicted in the picture not his own house, but a drinking establishment. This version is also supported by other researchers who write that we have before us an illustration of one of the sins of the Prodigal Son (M. Rickets, 2006). In our opinion, Rembrandt only symbolically plays up the idea that he had to realize only recently - after the death of his son: you have to pay the bills for everything. And the bill for this is now constantly in front of your eyes - no matter how much you fill grief with wine. This is a portrait of the state of mind of a person at the beginning of middle age - a period of deep feelings, a period of conflict between the need for intimacy and inner loneliness, which, moreover, can be aggravated by real losses of loved ones.

From 1640, Rembrandt began to paint only portraits of the upper strata of Amsterdam society. He no longer accepts orders from the middle class. The artist realizes that he has reached the same position in society as Van Dyck. Just a year ago, the couple bought on credit a luxurious house on one of the most prestigious streets of the city - Sint Antonis Brestrat. In 1640, Rembrandt's second daughter, Cornelia, was born. In the same year, at the age of 79, the artist's mother dies, and he inherits the mill and a fortune of 9960 florins.
On a self-portrait of 1640, a sedate gentleman of high Amsterdam society appears before us. Rembrandt's clothing in the style of the 16th century modestly hints at the artist's spiritual kinship with the great predecessors of the Renaissance: Raphael and Titian. The artist learned to restrain his emotions, as befits a person of his circle: his lips are depicted as closed, but they do not have that easy, ingenuous smile that glowed with restraint in a self-portrait of 1630. But for all the formality of the self-portrait's class affiliation, the artist is unable to hide his eternal sadness in his eyes, even carefully disguised.

Particularly important are the changes in the artist's self-perception at the turn of the transition from the 1940s to the 1950s. The ideal of wealth, a high position in society, which Rembrandt so aspired to in the first half of his life, which determined his attitude towards close and surrounding people, turned out to be just a mirage that disappeared as soon as the artist suffered heavy sobering personal losses. The self-portrait of 1652 is an attempt to testify to himself and God the awareness and repentance of his errors. Most likely, Rembrandt wants to convince himself, consolidate the thought of the futility of his past path and atone for his guilt before God in order to stop the final destruction of his life. He declares that he has taken the lesson and now does not turn away from fate - he is able to look her straight in the eyes, revealing his whole self to her, just like he reveals himself in a self-portrait to the viewer. Human values ​​and preoccupation with the inner world come forward in front of the external attributes of wealth and position.

Self-portraits of the second half of Rembrandt's life represent the antithesis of self-portraits of the first half of his life. We do not consider the background, vestments and accessories of Rembrandt, which are artificial and are only a secondary addition to the depiction of the artist's face. Everything that he feels and experiences is reflected on his face. Self-portraits of the second half of his life reflect the dramatic changes that took place in the life of the artist. Under the blows of fate, Rembrandt is rapidly aging. Self-portraits show how small intervals of just three years (1652-1655-1658) change the artist's appearance.

Rembrandt managed to move away from creating his own idealized image - the ideal, under which he adjusted his life earlier. Now he is not interested in a rich dress, but in his own inner world. He recognizes and comes to terms with his appearance, and with his aging, and with his position. We can say that Rembrandt brilliantly portrayed in his self-portraits the life path of an ordinary person who lives the first half of his life in captivity of false ideals, and only after suffering the first losses, thinks about values ​​of a different order and manages to rebuild his self-perception and his life for new conditions.

The most significant changes in the appearance of Rembrandt occur at the turn of 52-53 years of age. In just a year, from the "king of painting" in the image of Jupiter, as the artist tried to portray himself in 1658, Rembrandt turned into a withered old man with a meek sad look. The loss of the rights to own a house, the change in the usual way of life had a depressing effect on the artist. The façade of prosperity, on the construction of which Rembrandt spent so much effort in his youth, collapsed. Along with the house, traces of his former life with Saskia and Girtier disappeared, his familiar everyday world. As a result, the 53-year-old Rembrandt in just one year acquired the appearance of an old man, captured in a self-portrait of 1659, which he, fixing on all subsequent self-portraits, carried until his death in 1669. In this self-portrait, there are no longer firmly compressed lips, narrowed eyes, a deep frown between the eyebrows due to slightly furrowed eyebrows, and there is no firm head setting, as in a self-portrait of 1658. Rembrandt's eyes have a natural expression of sadness, without any attempt to give the look shades of severity. His chin is tucked in - he tries to keep well in front of himself, he restrains himself so as not to give vent to his experiences.
In 1660, Rembrandt's bankruptcy case was completed. Rembrandt left the house, handed over to the new owner. Rembrandt's son Titus and Hendrickje received the rights to sell Rembrandt's works. All that Rembrandt could now have for his work was just a table and shelter agreed by the bankruptcy agreement.

For the last nine years of his life, Rembrandt continued to work. His work, like his self-portraits, became more realistic. Of these, the reflection of personal ambitions disappeared, he again learned to follow the wishes of the customers. However, financial problems were not yet resolved, and fate could not give him a peaceful old age without personal loss.
In 1663, Hendrickje Stoffels dies of the bubonic plague, who can only be buried in a rented grave - there is not enough money to buy a place in the cemetery. In 1668, Rembrandt's son Titus married the daughter of Rembrandt's friend and relative Saskia. However, after only 5 months, the son dies of the plague. Titus is also waiting for only a rented grave, as well as, a year later, for Rembrandt himself, whose remains were never subsequently discovered, since there was no one to pay the rent for the grave, and the artist’s remains were most likely reburied in an unmarked grave.

In his last year, Rembrandt made several self-portraits. On one of them, he depicted himself as a laughing Greek artist Zeuxis (M. Stein, 2007). This is the only known self-portrait of Rembrandt where you can see a smile, and not just barely noticeable traces of it. But, as before, the artist's eyes do not laugh - he only tries to look smiling. According to legend, Zeuxis, a painter from Heraclea, the founder of the Ephesian school, died of laughter when an ugly old woman offered him huge money to portray her in the form of Aphrodite. Rembrandt, anticipating his imminent death, gave his past, wasted on false ideals, on the empty struggle of passions, which many take for the meaning of life, a bitter smile. This smile of a person who has realized the true values ​​​​of life. Most often, unfortunately, such awareness comes only after personal losses and a person’s direct contact with death, triggering the processes of personal transformation - the release of deferred goals and the manifestation of one’s true spiritual essence. From the point of view of psychologist Eric Erickson, the final part of a person’s life is a conflict of personality integrity and feelings of hopelessness. This is a time of reflection, when a person, looking back on his life, can feel a sense of wholeness or unity with his past. If life opportunities were missed, then there comes a period of awareness of mistakes and the inability to start all over again, most often accompanied by a feeling of despair.

The painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son", written after everything experienced in 1668-69, was for the artist the embodiment of a whole bunch of feelings that tormented him. It reflected both bitterness over the bygone youth, and an impossible desire to remake the life lived (the central character), a deep sense of guilt in relation to his life partners, a desire to repent and receive forgiveness for his sins (the Prodigal Son himself), fear of contempt and rejection from the environment (Publican and Elder Brother).
Formally, the picture was an illustration of the parable of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 15:11-32). The best analytical theological treatment of this picture was given by the Dutch-born pastor Henry Nouen (1932-1996), who is the author of 40 books on the Christian spiritual life and the second most read Christian writer in the United States after Carol Lewis. Depressed after being assigned to a Toronto insane asylum, Henry Nowen wrote The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Meditation on Fathers, Brothers and Sons about the Rembrandt painting, examining in detail the symbolism of the image from biblical positions. In his book, the biographical background for the experiences reflected in the picture is considered in detail.

In his work, Nowen hypothesizes that in the main characters of the painting, Rembrandt depicted various hypostases of himself - three stages of spiritual transformation. First, Rembrandt recognizes himself as a prodigal son, repenting of his life's mistakes before his own father and the Heavenly Father, symbolically represented in the picture by the old father. The second hypostasis of Rembrandt, according to Nouen, is the eldest son - the embodiment of the Christian conscience, the antithesis of the younger son and a symbol of reproach for his sins. The third hypostasis of Rembrandt is an old father who accepts the prodigal son as he is and forgives him.
Henry Nowen's version is successfully confirmed by Rembrandt's self-portrait of 1665, located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, in which Rembrandt depicted himself as an old man with a beard. The features of the face, the shape of the beard and mustache, the artist’s clothes in the self-portrait echo the appearance of the Big Brother and Father in the painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son”.

However, giving a detailed theological interpretation of the painting, Nouen lost sight of the fact that Rembrandt was never a deeply pious person. Of course, the artist was familiar with the Bible, but he thought like an ordinary person, and the inner motives that move him in creating a picture were rather inherent in the universal psychology of an ordinary person, with his earthly passions and fears.
In our opinion, the picture is a brilliant illustration of the felt need to integrate the inner world of a person in the final stage of his life, torn apart by contradictions between parts of his personality. The prodigal son is the embodiment of the unconscious realm - the habitat of the "devilish" passions that led Rembrandt in the first half of his life. Elder brother - symbolizes the superconscious superstructures of a person's personality - conscience and morality, conditioned by social and religious foundations. The sitting publican is another part of the artist's superconsciousness, reminding him of the inevitability of punishment for sins, silently waiting for the artist's life debts to be paid.
The "I" of the artist is found in the center of the picture, and all events unfold around him in a clockwise direction. First of all, the artist identifies himself with the central character - the only one of the men looking directly at the viewer from the canvas.

Il. No. 11. Comparison of fragments of Rembrandt's self-portraits with the character of the picture.

The features of this young man are reminiscent of Rembrandt himself in his youth, when his cheeks were still not as wide as in a self-portrait at the age of thirty. The similarity of the structure of the face, the shape of the eyes, eyebrows, mouth and nose with a high degree of probability tell us that the artist depicted himself. The one, the former Rembrandt, looks from the canvas with a sad half-smile, and his eyes are full of regret. Behind him, in the realm of shadows, his beloved wife remained, with whose death all life went upside down. Before him is what he so passionately desires - his acceptance by the All-Forgiving Father, who, however, can turn into a formidable Judge, repaying for sins.
In addition to referring to the image of the wife, the female image, perhaps, is a collective one, uniting all the women Rembrandt loved. In addition, based on the ideas of C. G. Jung's psychology, the female image in the shadow in the upper left corner may be the image of the artist's Anima - the female part of the soul that is present in every man.
The old father is the embodiment of the superconscious, the divine, which is beyond the personality of the artist. The old father is an integrative principle that is able to accept, forgive and give peace of mind for the rest of life to those who could go through the difficult path of transformation, awareness of their composite essence and come to the opportunity to accept themselves as they are, including all their “right” and “wrong” parts.

Empirical assumptions about the deep psychological essence of the image in the picture can be tested using the theory of the symbolism of visual space.
graphic field according to the scheme of the art historian Mikael Grunwald and the Swiss psychologist Karl Koch, shown in the illustration below:

Il. No. 12. Zones of spatial symbolism according to M. Grunwald and K. Koch:

1. zone of passivity. The space of the observer of life
2. Action zone in life
3. Impulses-instincts. mundane domestic conflicts. Dirt
4. Start-regression. Fixation at the primitive stage is a passed state.
5. Zone of the Past, Mothers. Introversion, beginning, birth, source.
6. Top: Air, Void. Lower part: Nothingness, light, desire, negation.
7. Highest point. Lower part: Purpose, end, death.
8. Father, future, extraversion, matter, Hell, fall, demonism.
9. Matter. Unconscious.
10. Supersensible mind. Divine. Conscious.

When dividing the picture into visual zones, it turns out that all the characters occupy a position with a very specific symbolic meaning.
The central position at the junction of three visual zones is occupied by a young man with whom Rembrandt identifies himself in the first place. His head is located at the junction of the zones of Consciousness, the zone of an active life position (most of the head) and the zone of a passive observer (a large visible part of the body). This position of the character confirms that it is with him that the real self-identification of the artist is associated - his current conscious position, which, however, to a greater extent lies in the passive position of the observer of the passing life. His active position is contained only inside his thoughts, which is also confirmed by the head of the second character in a beret (the Publican) with a contemplative expression on his face, located within this visual zone.

The right hand of the character in the beret is in an intermediate position. Either the Publican is about to clench his fist, grabbing the fabric of his robe, or he has already loosened the tension and relaxed his hand, releasing the fabric. Judging by the passive expression on his face, the second option is more likely. The Publican's left hand, located in the same zone, lies calmly on his knee. Since this visual zone reflects the state of the mundane sphere, domestic conflicts, everything negative in everyday life, it can be assumed that Rembrandt, although he still demonstrates his once very aggressive semi-clenched fist, but his subconscious (left hand connected to the right hemisphere of the brain) has already come to terms with all the troubles of a hard vain life and has already given a command to the consciousness (right hand) to weaken the opposition to the world and reduce the level of self-control (the hand that releases clothes).

The old father - another age incarnation of Rembrandt - also passively lowered his eyes down. His head is in the zone of a passive observer of life, which once again confirms the conclusions made about the current state of the artist based on an analysis of the position of previous characters. However, the left hand of the Father is in the same quadrant as the head of the Prodigal Son. This is the traversed and regression quadrant. Life has already been lived, mistakes have been made, and the subconscious of Rembrandt the Father accepts the right active side of Rembrandt the Prodigal Son as it is. The right hand of Rembrandt the Father touches the same zone with his fingertips, but its main part lies in the Region of the Past. In active work, in particular in writing this canvas, the artist refers to the life he lived, which is symbolized by the right hand of today's Rembrandt, lying on the back of Rembrandt of the past.

In the picture we see a brilliant illustration of the reconciliation of the internal conflict of wholeness and hopelessness of the last period of the artist's life, described by psychologist Eric Erickson.

So that the viewer does not have any doubts in assessing the delusions of the first half of the artist's life, Rembrandt places the face of Satan, which is in the unconscious zone, in the folds of the Prodigal Son's clothes. Together with the satanic mask, the shod leg of the prodigal son, a waist bag (purse) and a knife fell into the same zone. Probably, this company to Satan can be interpreted as the artist's displaced fear of death and retribution for striving for material prosperity. This movement is illustrated by the dynamics from left to right from the bare foot in the Beginning - Past zone to the shod foot and the image of the moshna. Note that the shoes of the Prodigal Son turned out to be worn out - prosperity did not take place in the end. The knife in the sheath is a symbol of aggression and sexuality - with which Rembrandt's past sins are also associated.

All this led only to emptiness and the expectation of imminent death (steps down from light to shadow on the right side of the unconscious zone). A character in a beret leaning with his feet on the same zone, as we discussed above, is already tired of resisting life and only accepts it as it is. However, the impending death really frightens the artist: the hands of the character standing on the right are clenched - the right (conscious) hand is trying to take control of the left (unconscious) part of the artist's essence. Probably, the picture itself was for Rembrandt the strongest psychotherapeutic tool for understanding and responding to conflicts, as well as a means of internal self-integration. The artist would like to achieve wise peace (the calm and thoughtful face of the Elder Brother) as a result of his life, but he understands that this is no longer possible. All that is left is to humble yourself and show your last wisdom in this.

The first beloved wife or the last affection of the artist - Hendrickje is in the zone of Non-Being, Light and Desire. This position of a young and attractive woman, given on the canvas only by contour hints in the shadows on the canvas, can not be commented on. What is left at the top - in the zone of the Divine? Alas, there is only darkness at the top and another non-malicious face of a demon sticking out its tongue, hidden in the bas-relief of the capital of the column on which the central character rests.

Thus, Rembrandt beautifully, academically accurately depicted the entire gamut of strong experiences that gripped him at the end of his years, and perfectly reflected his psychological state at the time of the creation of the painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son”.

We would like to touch on a few more details that are rarely covered in publications about the painting in question. The fact that the problem of inevitable retribution greatly worries the author is also evidenced by the special location of the “entry point” of the viewer into the picture. The first most brightly illuminated detail of the foreground is the bare foot of the prodigal son. From it, most often, the viewer begins to examine the picture - “the entrance to the picture”. Next to the naked foot is a hidden symbol of Satan, and the foot itself is part of the prototype of Death “encrypted” in the picture. What it is? Our studies of many well-known works of art have shown that paintings, during the creation of which the artist experienced especially strong feelings, may contain hidden layers of images filled with symbolic images, which are a symbolic reflection of the dominant conscious or unconscious experiences of the artist during the creation of the picture. Most often, these are all kinds of archetypal symbols of death. Such hidden information layers, unconsciously embedded in the work by the artist, can be perceived by the viewer at an extraconscious level and play a significant role in shaping the idea of ​​the picture.

It is known that one of the ways of perceiving the "invisible" in the picture is "looking" at the picture with the help of defocused eyes. Defocusing of vision due to relaxation of the muscles of the eyeball leads to the possibility of perceiving visual images using peripheral vision, which has significant physiological differences from ordinary central vision. Peripheral vision is provided by the functioning of the "rod" apparatus of the retina. In contrast to the central - color vision, peripheral vision - achromatic. In this case, the warm tones of the image appear darker, and the cold tones appear lighter. The second important feature of peripheral vision is its reduced acuity. The combination of these two factors makes it possible to “average” the rich color palette of painting, reducing it to grayscale, and “blur” the “fluctuations” of the forms and outlines of the image. The result of such perception is the merging of adjacent areas of the image with similar intensity of brightness - fusion, which leads to the possibility of perceiving the hidden layers of the image in a painting by eliminating color "noise" and fluctuations in the contours and shapes of the image.
To visualize the hidden layers of images, we have proposed a method of computer simulation of human peripheral vision. To do this, a computer program is used - a graphic editor that allows you to average the color intensity values ​​of nearby areas of the image and convert them from a color image to grayscale. Conventionally, such image processing can be called "blur" ("blur"), which resembles the final visual result of the perception of external objects using peripheral vision.
Below is an illustration of the result of partial "blurring" of Rembrandt's painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son":

It can be seen from the presented illustration that the key images of the picture - the Prodigal Son and the Father together form a feather-image - a visual archetype of death in the form of a grinning skull. The main force that moved Rembrandt when creating the picture was the most important existential fear of a person - the fear of imminent death and retribution for all his sins. The image hidden in the image discussed above was created at an unconscious level. However, the artist himself, as if wanting to once again emphasize his feelings, repeated the face of Satan in the folds of the tattered clothes of the Prodigal Son. The uniqueness of the canvas lies in the fact that these hidden images coincide in their symbolic meaning.

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn's painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son" is an excellent multifaceted illustration that reveals the inner world of the artist in the last years of his life, and represents a kind of retrospective of his entire past life. The sincerity of the artist's experiences, captured in the canvas, allows us to consider Rembrandt's work from both theological and psychological points of view and receive a symbolic meaning that carries a single meaning. This picture makes the viewer think about his own destiny, correlating his past and current situation with the seemingly so distant and unreal day when he has to sum up his whole life.

Which saint in what cases to pray?Orthodox prayers for different occasions.

The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1669. Oil on canvas, 262x206. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Perhaps no other painting by Rembrandt inspires such lofty feelings as this painting. There are few works of such intense emotional impact in world art 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” is a feeling of boundless family joy 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. This is grief for lost youth, regret that it is impossible to return the lost days.
This plot attracted many famous predecessors of Rembrandt: Dürer, Bosch, Luke of Leiden, Rubens.

PARABLE
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 the slop that was given to the 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 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 close 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 pictorial and real spaces (later the canvas was placed at the bottom, but according to the author’s intention, its lower edge passed at the level of the kneeling son’s toes.

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 is a figure that 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, a female, possibly a servant. 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 the staff in his hands suggest that he, 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.
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.

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 the age of 63 all alone, but he 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.

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Plot

According to the parable, one day the son, the youngest in the family, wanted to start an independent life and demanded his share of the inheritance. In fact, this symbolized that he wishes his father to die, because the division of property occurs only after the death of the eldest in the family. The young man got what he asked for and left his father's house. Life beyond his means, the deterioration of the economic situation in the country where he ended up, led to the fact that soon the young man squandered everything he had. He was faced with a choice - death or repentance: “How many hirelings from my father are abundant in bread, and I am dying of hunger; I will get up and go to my father and 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."

The father, when meeting with his son, ordered to slaughter the best calf and arrange a holiday. At the same time, he utters the phrase, sacramental for all Christianity: “This son of mine was dead and is alive, disappeared and was found.” This is an allegory for the return of lost sinners to the bosom of the church.

"Prodigal Son in a Tavern" (1635). Another name is "Self-portrait with Saskia on her knees."
On the canvas, Rembrandt portrayed himself as the prodigal son, wasting his father's inheritance

The eldest son, returning from field work and learning why the holiday was started, became angry: “I have been serving you for so many years and have never violated your orders, but you have never given me even a kid to have fun with my friends; but when this son of yours, who had squandered his possessions with harlots, came, you slaughtered a fattened calf for him.” And although the father called him to mercy, we do not learn from the parable what decision the eldest son makes.

Rembrandt allowed himself to deviate from the classical text. First, he portrayed his father as blind. The text does not explicitly state whether the man was sighted or not, but from the fact that he saw his son from afar, we can conclude that he still had no vision problems.

Secondly, Rembrandt's eldest son is present at the meeting - a tall man on the right. In the classical text, he comes when preparations are already in the house for the celebration on the occasion of the return of the younger brother.

"The Return of the Prodigal Son" (1666−1669)

Thirdly, the meeting itself is described differently. The overjoyed father runs out to meet his son and falls on his knees before him. In Rembrandt, we see a young man standing humbly on the ground, and his father, quietly placing his hands on his shoulders. Moreover, one palm looks like a soft, caressing, maternal, and the second - like a strong, holding, paternal one.

The eldest son is aloof. His hands are tightly clenched - you can see the internal struggle that takes place in him. Angry at his father, the eldest son must make a choice whether to accept his younger brother or not.

In addition to the main characters, Rembrandt depicted other people on the canvas. Who they are cannot be said for sure. It is possible that these are servants, with the help of which the artist wanted to convey the pre-holiday fuss and bright mood.

Context

The Return of the Prodigal Son is possibly Rembrandt's last painting. Work on it was preceded by a series of losses that stretched for 25 years: from the death of the first, beloved wife Saskia and all the children she gave birth to, to almost complete ruin and the absence of customers.

The rich clothes in which the heroes are depicted were part of the artist's collection. In the 17th century, Holland was the strongest economy in the world. The ships of her merchants seemed to be everywhere - even with Japan there was trade (Japan did not trade with anyone else at that time). Outlandish goods flocked to Dutch ports. The artist regularly walked there and bought unusual fabrics, jewelry, and weapons. All this was then used in the work. Even for self-portraits, Rembrandt dressed up in overseas and tried on new images.

The fate of the artist

Rembrandt was born in Leiden to a wealthy Dutchman who owned a mill. When the boy announced to his father that he intended to become an artist, he supported him - then in Holland it was prestigious and profitable to be an artist. People were ready to be malnourished, but did not skimp on the paintings.

After studying for three years (which was enough to start his own business, as it was then believed) from his uncle, a professional artist, Rembrandt and a friend opened a workshop in Leiden. Although there were orders, they were rather monotonous and did not carry away. Work began to boil after moving to Amsterdam. There he soon met Saskia van Uilenbürch, the daughter of the mayor of Leeuwarden, and without hesitation married.

. The painting that quarreled the artist with all the customers depicted on the canvas

Saskia was his muse, inspiration, light. He painted her portrait in various attire and images. At the same time, she was from a wealthy family, which also allowed them to live in a big way. The latter circumstance irritated Saskia's relatives - the classical Flemings, who could not bear the unbridled life beyond their means. They even sued Rembrandt, accusing him of squandering, but the artist presented, as they would say today, a certificate of income and proved that he and his wife had enough fees for all the whims.

After the death of Saskia, Rembrandt fell into depression for a while, even stopped working. The owner of an already unpleasant character, he became completely merciless to others - he was bilious, stubborn, self-willed and even rude. In many respects, therefore, contemporaries tried not to write anything about Rembrandt - the bad is indecent, but apparently there was no good.

Hendrikje Stoffels (1655)

Gradually, Rembrandt took up arms against almost everyone: customers, creditors, and other artists. A kind of conspiracy developed around him - he was almost purposefully brought to bankruptcy, forcing him to sell his entire collection for next to nothing. Even the house went under the hammer. If it weren’t for the students who developed and helped the master buy simpler housing in the Jewish district, Rembrandt risked staying on the street.

Today we do not even know where the remains of the artist are located. He was buried in the cemetery for the poor. In the funeral procession was only his daughter Cornelia from Hendrikje Stoffels, the third wife (not official, but, one might say, civil). After the death of Rembrandt, Cornelia got married and left for Indonesia. There traces of her family are lost. As for information about Rembrandt himself, over the past decades it has been collected literally bit by bit - during the life of the artist, much was lost, not to mention the fact that no one purposefully conducted his biography.