

1217
2
by
James Tissot
The Return of the Prodigal Son (Le retour de l'enfant prodigue)
1886 - 1894
Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper
Image: 8 11/16 x 5 1/2 in. (22.1 x 14 cm)
Brooklyn Museum
Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.185
In this parable, a young man leaves the comfort of family, wanders foreign lands, and resorts to begging after wasting a fortune through debauchery. Returning, he receives the embrace of his father, who warmly welcomes him home despite his mistakes, prompting the young man to repent the rejection of his family.
Tissot had treated the Prodigal Son subject several times before, first in the guise of early historicizing scenes that helped establish his career and then, in the early 1880s, as a series of paintings and later etchings set in Victorian England. As many scholars have pointed out, the parable may have had a particular autobiographical resonance for Tissot, who had left his homeland—trading his native France for England during the 1870s—and who had a reputation for scandalous romances and luxurious living before a return to the faith of his youth with The Life of Christ.
Image: 8 11/16 x 5 1/2 in. (22.1 x 14 cm)
Brooklyn Museum
Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.185
In this parable, a young man leaves the comfort of family, wanders foreign lands, and resorts to begging after wasting a fortune through debauchery. Returning, he receives the embrace of his father, who warmly welcomes him home despite his mistakes, prompting the young man to repent the rejection of his family.
Tissot had treated the Prodigal Son subject several times before, first in the guise of early historicizing scenes that helped establish his career and then, in the early 1880s, as a series of paintings and later etchings set in Victorian England. As many scholars have pointed out, the parable may have had a particular autobiographical resonance for Tissot, who had left his homeland—trading his native France for England during the 1870s—and who had a reputation for scandalous romances and luxurious living before a return to the faith of his youth with The Life of Christ.
- License:
- Public Domain, Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum
- For more:
- https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4538/…
More from this artist...
-
Herod Antipas 1890540
-
Vanity Fair, Royalty 1869162
You may also like...
-
The Starry Night 188991919252
-
82899204
-
70197164
-
63409152
-
123668114
-
Starry Night 188829817140
-
Self-Portrait 188974541118
-
The Dance Class 187444199126
-
Venus on the Waves 17697177896
-
96305250
-
Irises 188962554192
-
95118156
-
88360137
-
The Signal 189952949123
-
The Milkmaid 166052921123
-
Roses 189041349127
-
39641126
-
33356122