Albrecht Dürer
The Prodigal Son
Details
Bartsch 28; Meder 28 c-d (von h); Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum 9 c-d (von h).
Description
Quite excellent, strong and even impression, the vertical wiping scribbles in the gable of the large house, still faintly visible in the sky top left and through the large pig on the right. Before the scratch above the penultimate window.
Dürer’s depiction of the prodigal son in a large Franconian farmhouse is a clear departure from the text and iconographic tradition. Traditionally, the prodigal son was depicted as a swineherd standing with his animals in a field, but Dürer brought the parable of guilt and unconditional grace “closer to home”. The present work marks an early high point in Dürer’s ability to describe space and depth, textures and surfaces. The Engraving was already much admired by Dürer’s contemporaries. Trimmed on or just inside the borderlines. – Paper sporadically stained. Right margin with a backed loss. Restored losses around the edges and within the image, a small reddish stain in the left margin, verso with isolated paper thinning, still in good overall condition.
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