The Return of the Prodigal Son

The painting presents the dramatic climax of the biblical story of the Prodigal Son. After leaving home and misspending his inheritance, the son returns to his father's house. According to Saint Luke's Gospel: 'the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son'. The father's welcome and forgiveness is shown by the tender embrace and the tears in the old man's eyes. A servant carries new, clean clothes for the son to wear. The close-up format of the painting, with few figures, draws the viewer into this intimate moment of reconciliation. The protagonists of the story are presented in simple clothes, using a colour scheme of browns, earthy reds and ochres, a palette often used by Neapolitan painters. 

The identity of the artist behind this painting has long been uncertain. When this painting was bequeathed to Dulwich Picture Gallery by the artist and collector Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919) in 1911, it was attributed to Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652), a prominent seventeenth century Spanish artist working in Naples. More recently, it has been speculated that the artist may be someone close to the Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds, a mysterious artist - of either Italian or Spanish origin - active in Naples in the 1630s.