rembrandt prodigal son detail
The very dark acting in the whole scene lets the bright shiny group of father and son come out more. The image is determined by the easily forwards stooped shape of the old father and his son kneeling in front of him.
1. God the Father –
God‘s image
The inherent message conveyed by this spiritual masterpiece is clear. God will always forgive a repentant sinner, no matter what. Indeed, some art scholars interpret The Return of the Prodigal Son as a plea to the Jews to rejoin mainstream Christianity, secure in the knowledge that they will receive a warm welcome from God and all his followers. These scholars believe that the older son symbolizes the Jews, and that Rembrandt deliberately painted him in the same colours as his father, signifying that they are, in a sense, one and the same.
Portrait of Jan Six (1654)
Private Collection, Amsterdam.
Rembrandt is as much the elder son of the parable as he is the younger. When, during the last years of his life, he painted both sons in Return of the Prodigal Son, he had lived a life in which neither the lostness of the younger son nor the lostness of the elder son was alien to him. Both needed healing and forgiveness. Both needed to come home. Both needed the embrace of a forgiving father. But from the story itself, as well as from Rembrandt’s painting, it is clear that the hardest conversion to go through is the conversion of the one who stayed home. [7]
Dutch priest Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) was so taken by the painting that he eventually wrote a short book, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming (1992), using the parable and Rembrandt’s painting as frameworks. He begins by describing his visit to the State Hermitage Museum in 1986, where he was able to contemplate the painting alone for hours. Considering the role of the father and sons in the parable in relation to Rembrandt’s biography, he wrote:
Голландия, около 1668 г.
Когда-то в молодости на одном из своих автопортретов Рембрандт изобразил себя — кутилу и баловня судьбы в расцвете славы и сил, с бокалом в руке и любимой женщиной на коленях. Обращение к сюжету возвращения блудного сына (Лк. 15:11-32) — это своеобразный финал истории. Картина написана мастером за несколько месяцев до смерти. В бледном, исхудавшем, усталом человеке, вернувшемся к отцу, которого он бросил в юности, трудно узнать бесшабашного искателя удовольствий, игрока и мота, выпросившего у отца своё наследство и спустившего его до последней монеты. Куда девались его самоуверенность и богатые одежды? Всё бренное спало с него, как пустая шелуха, прозрение пришло ценой потерь и страданий. Войдя в родной дом, больной и обессиленный, он падает на колени перед отцом, который склоняется к нему, полный любви и милосердия. В дымчатом сумраке пространства лицо старика сияет и на сына нисходит свет его утешения. Красная накидка на плечах старца словно образует шатёр над бедным скитальцем. Рядом молча стоят потрясенные свидетели. В Голландии, протестантской стране, где в храмах не было живописных алтарей и где крупные полотна на религиозные сюжеты создавались не часто, Рембрандт без всякого заказа написал огромную картину, в которой особенности зрелой живописной манеры художника, сами цвет и свет, приобрели одухотворённый характер. Он словно подводит итог своему жизненному и творческому пути, передавая себя на суд высшему милосердию и миру.
It’s a depiction of overwhelming love and forgiveness. At more than 8½ feet tall, the figures are life-sized. As one stands, looking upward at the face of the father, it’s as though his tender embrace envelops the viewer, as well. From a deliberately dark background of rich brown and velvety black, three figures emerge, drenched in light. Other shadowy figures can be perceived, but it’s clear they’re not the stars of the scene. The three spotlighted men immediately draw our attention, even though we know the story. Then, it’s the details that bring the parable to life.
Born to a middle class miller’s family in 1606, Rembrandt, like many, left home and went to the big city, (for him, Amsterdam) to seek success. His talent and skills served him well. He created astonishingly life-like portraits of the city’s wealthy merchants, shipbuilders, local politicians, and their families.
References:
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/return-of-the-prodigal-son.htm
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Prodigal_Son_(Rembrandt)
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/01.+Paintings/43413/
http://www.catholicdigest.com/from-the-magazine/way-of-beauty/is-rembrandts-prodigal-son-the-greatest-painting-of-all-time/
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/return-of-the-prodigal-son.htm