A Set of Six George III Engravings Depicting Scenes of the Prodigal Son

Description

Published by John Marshall, engraver, each with a narrative of the biblical story, the Prodigal Son, with inscription at bottom. … more Published by John Marshall, engraver, each with a narrative of the biblical story, the Prodigal Son, with inscription at bottom. Within ebonized wood framed.

A story of departure, decline, penitence, and redemption, the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) in which a younger son asks for his father for his inheritance early, squanders the fortune, is reduced to extreme poverty, and is forgiven by his father, has been an important subject for artists since the thirteenth century. The story's narrative was a popular moral subject with both “high and low” audiences, resonating as a warning to the youth and an aspirational example to parents. In this scene from the fourth of the six-part series, the Prodigal Son, dressed in rags, has spent or lost all his inheritence and now is reduced to stealing bits of food from a group of hogs. less