He bends over his son in a grey robe and yellow shawl.
Bible in art · Luke
The Return of the Prodigal Son (Le retour de l'enfant prodigue)
James Tissot · 1886–1894
Brooklyn Museum, New York
In a vaulted street with a stone staircase, the father holds his son in a close embrace. The son has fallen to his knees in torn clothes and buries his face in his father’s robe; his hat and staff lie on the paving.
The father, in a grey robe and yellow-striped shawl, bends over him. Servants and neighbours look on from the stairs and the doorway, and at the right a figure in brown holds a hand to his face.
From the text
- “while he was still in the distance, his father saw him” (Luke 15:20)
- “He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20)
The artist’s own
- The meeting in a town street, not out in the fields
- Onlookers on the stairs
Details
The father
The son
He kneels and clings to his father.
Hat and staff
His hat and walking stick lie on the ground.
Onlookers
People watch from the stairs.
James Tissot, French, 1836–1902. Brooklyn Museum, New York (Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.185) · Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper · Brooklyn Museum (Commons file page, «Permission»): "This image was uploaded by the Brooklyn Museum as a content partnership, and is considered to have no known copyright restrictions by the institutions of the Brooklyn Museum." — "No known copyright restrictions".