In this article
The subject
What are we looking at?
Rembrandt shows the returning son being received by his father, a scene from the parable in Luke 15:11-32. [1] The Hermitage dates this oil painting to circa 1668. [1]
Begin with the two figures on the left. The father’s bent head and hands bring your attention to the kneeling son. Let your eye move away to the figures on the right, then return to the place where the hands meet his back.
A closer look
A meeting seen through touch
The son’s face turns into the father’s body. We see the back of his head and the hands spread across his clothing. The father’s red garment forms a broad shape around the much lighter figure below him.
In Rembrandt’s Eyes, Simon Schama reads the embrace through the idea of touch offering a kind of spiritual vision, linking this painting to Rembrandt’s late depiction of Simeon. [2] Use it as a question to take back to the image: how much of the meeting can you understand from the gesture, even though you cannot see the son’s expression?
The hands sit differently on the son’s back. Follow each wrist to the fingers before deciding what that difference suggests to you.
Guided looking
Look from the hands to the feet
Detail 1 of 3
Hands on the back
Look at the father’s fingers against the son’s light clothing. Then follow the bend of the father’s head. The gesture and the face occupy the same small part of the canvas; the whole-image view lets you see how much darker space surrounds them.
Detail 2 of 3
The turned head
The son’s head is turned away from us. Look at where its outline meets the father’s clothes. How does the painting hold your attention without giving you a full view of the son’s face?
Detail 3 of 3
The feet below
An exposed heel and worn footwear draw attention to the kneeling figure at the bottom of the painting. Compare that low position with the father’s hands above.
Resolve the title
One title, different paintings
Use the artist and collection to identify the work. The catalogue entries below identify a different artist and collection for each painting. [1][3][4]
Rembrandt
The Return of the Prodigal Son, circa 1668. State Hermitage Museum, ГЭ-742. Oil on canvas, 262 x 205 cm. [1]
Murillo
The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1667-1670. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948.12.1. Oil on canvas, 236.3 x 261 cm. [4]
The NGA’s scholarly catalogue identifies the Hospital of Charity in Seville as the painting’s original commission and relates the clothing motif to the charitable act of clothing the naked. [4] The clothes therefore offer a specific way into this painting’s original setting.
Guercino
Return of the Prodigal Son, around 1619. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Gemäldegalerie 253. Overall dimensions: 107 x 143.5 cm. [3]
The museum’s account describes the father receiving his returning son and giving him new clothes. [3]
Another Rembrandt work
The earlier etching
Rembrandt made an etching of The Return of the Prodigal Son in 1636; the impression shown here belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 66.521.49. [5] It is a different work from the Hermitage painting.
In this image the embrace takes place at a doorway. The father bends towards the son, and figures carrying clothes stand to the right. Compare the space between the two faces with their arrangement in the painting. What changes when the encounter sits on steps outside a doorway?
The dimensions above distinguish the area of the plate from the sheet. They do not describe the size of Rembrandt’s painting.
Follow the original
Where is the painting?
The painting entered the Hermitage in 1766 from Catherine the Great’s collection. [1] The museum’s record lists it in the New Hermitage, room 254, checked 6 October 2026. [1]
Use the museum’s own record for current display and visiting arrangements.
Common questions
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What does Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son show?
It shows the returning son received by his father, from the parable in Luke 15:11-32. [1] The embrace is the starting point for the guided details above.
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Where is the original painting?
It belongs to the State Hermitage Museum, accession ГЭ-742. [1] Follow the museum’s record and the dated display note above before planning a visit.
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When did Rembrandt paint it?
The Hermitage catalogue dates it to circa 1668. [1]
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What do the father’s hands mean?
Schama interprets the embrace through touch and spiritual vision. [2] The close-detail prompts help you examine the gesture. They do not establish a single documented meaning for the difference between the hands.
Prints by Rembrandt van Rijn are available. View the collection →
