Some notes on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, exploring faith through art and the bibleSome notes on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, exploring faith through art and the bibleSome notes on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, exploring faith through art and the bibleSome notes on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, exploring faith through art and the bible

de Chiricode Chiricode Chiricode Chirico depicts the prodigal son as mannequin-like hybrid figure welcomed by a ghostly father who has

stepped down from a pedestal to forgive his wild rover.

His is emphasis on strange, eerie spaces, based upon the Italian piazza. Many of de Chirico's works from his

Florence period evoke a sense of dislocation between past and present, between the individual subject and the

space he or she inhabits. In the paintings of his metaphysical period, De Chirico developed a repertoire of motifs

that he arranged to create "images of forlornness and emptiness" that paradoxically also convey a feeling of

"power and freedom"

De Chirico—whose father was a railroad engineer—painted images that suggest "the way you take in buildings

and vistas from the perspective of a train window. His towers, walls, and plazas seem to flash by, and you are

made to feel the power that comes from seeing things that way: you feel you know them more intimately than

the people do who live with them day by day."

In 1975, during the period known as Neometaphysics, de Chirico revisited the theme in this painting, basing its

composition on the prototype of the 1917 drawing. In addition to the Renaissance architecture and the same

high horizon, we find also find the equestrian monument at the rear and the column on a base in the forefront,

two elements which do not appear in the paintings of 1922 and 1924.

To make short reports of any action or place, we set the basic unitbasic unitbasic unitbasic unit as one 'fact'. A 'fact' is anything that can be

known, and therefore must have 'reality' (being). Any group of such facts can now be known from anyanyanyany view

point.

Metaphysical paintingMetaphysical paintingMetaphysical paintingMetaphysical painting, style of painting that flourished mainly between 1911 and 1920 in the works of the Italian

artists Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà. These painters used representational but incongruous imagery to

produce disquieting effects on the viewer. The term "metaphysical" comes from the Greek for "beyond real

things".

Friedrich Nietzsche - The latter’s search for hidden meanings beyond surface appearances and his descriptions of

empty squares surrounded by arcaded buildings influence de Chirico.

The Metaphysical painters believed in art as prophecy and in the artist as the poet-seer who, in clear-sighted

moments, could remove the mask of appearances to reveal the "true reality" that lay behind. Their strategy was

to transcend the physical appearance of reality, to unnerve or surprise the viewer with indecipherable or

enigmatic images. Although they were not interested in naturalistic representation, nor in recreating any specific

time or place, they were fascinated by the eeriness of everyday life,

Edward KnippersEdward KnippersEdward KnippersEdward Knippers

Knippers's vision is profoundly incarnational, restoring the human body to its central place as the locus of the

divine/human encounter. His work has occasioned controversy—it's been banned and even mutilated. We find

this ironic, because no one is more orthodox in his theology than Ed Knippers. But even in the midst of

controversy, he remains gracious and ready for dialogue.

The human body is at the center of my artistic imagination because the body is an essential element in the

Christian doctrines of Creation, Incarnation, and Resurrection. Disembodiment is not an option for the

Christian. Christ places His Body and His Blood at the heart of our faith in Him. Our faith comes to naught if

the Incarnation was not accomplished in actual time and space – if God did not send His Son to us in a real body

with real blood.

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, The Prodigal SonPierre Puvis de Chavannes, The Prodigal SonPierre Puvis de Chavannes, The Prodigal SonPierre Puvis de Chavannes, The Prodigal Son

allegorical pieces and idealizations of themes from antiquity Symbolism Symbolism Symbolism Symbolism in painting took its direction from the

poets and literary theorists of the movement, but it also represented a reaction against the objectivist aims of

Realism and the increasingly influential movement of Impressionism. In contrast to the relatively concrete

representation these movements sought, Symbolist painters favoured works based on fantasy and the

imagination. The Symbolist position in painting was authoritatively defined by the young critic Albert Aurier, an

enthusiastic admirer of Paul Gauguin, in an article in the Mercure de France (1891). He elaborated on Moréas’s

contention that the purpose of art “is to clothe the idea in sensuous form” and stressed the subjective, symbolical,

and decorative functions of an art that would give visual expression to the inner life.

Thomas Hart Benton Thomas Hart Benton Thomas Hart Benton Thomas Hart Benton –––– The The The The ProdigalProdigalProdigalProdigal

He has come home too late. Nobody has seen him from afar and run joyfully to meet him. There will be no

forgiveness, no best robe, no ring, no “music and dancing”. He stands in his shabby clothes with his poor, roped

suitcase. A beaten-up car- the last trace of his squandered wealth- parked in the background. He is gaping, with

his hand to his mouth, at the ruin of the family homestead, ruin caused by his own greed and wastefulness. He

looks as if it is just dawning on him that he is stupid and cruel and without hope. The light is failing in a chilly

sky beneath wind-ripped, twisted clouds. Instead of a fatted calf, there is a stark white animal skeleton, the skull

horned, lying in the unattended grass. We can guess at the grief, resignation, and failure that have overtaken the

family and its home during his heedless absence. Who can he blame for it but himself. The desolation is infinite.

TTTThere is also a warning to prodigalshere is also a warning to prodigalshere is also a warning to prodigalshere is also a warning to prodigals: Prodigals’ sins are not limited to those of “riotous living” and wasteful

spending. They also are guilty of the sin of presumption; presuming that while they are in the far country, all

important things will remain the same. They count on a spiritual and ethical underpinning of the culture to

remain in place even as their actions erode that foundation.

Nouwen Nouwen Nouwen Nouwen –––– Prodigal Prodigal Prodigal Prodigal SonSonSonSon

My heart leapt when I saw it. After my long and self-exposing journey, the tender embrace of father and son

expressed everything I desired at that moment. I was, indeed, the son exhausted from long travels; I wanted to be

embraced; I was looking for a home where I could feel safe. The son-come-home was all I was and all that I

wanted to be.

The parable of the prodigal son is a story that speaks about a love that existed before any rejection was possible

and that will still be there after all rejections have taken place. It is the first and everlasting love of a God who is

Father as well as Mother. It is the fountain of all true human love, even the most limited. Jesus' whole life and

preaching had only one aim: to reveal this inexhaustible, unlimited motherly and fatherly love of his God and to

show the way to let that love guide every part of our daily lives.

The soft yellow-brown of the son's underclothes looks beautiful when seen in rich harmony of the father's cloak,

but the truth of the matter is that the son is dressed in rages that betray the great misery that lies behind him. In

the context of a compassionate embrace, our brokenness may appear beautiful, but our brokenness has no other

beauty but the beauty that comes from the compassion that surrounds it.

Jan van Hemessen - The Prodigal SonThe Prodigal SonThe Prodigal SonThe Prodigal Son

The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15, 1 1-22) illustrates above all the theme of repentance and the infinite

nature of divine mercy. By choosing to show the episode, mentioned only in passing in the Bible, of the young

man wasting away his inheritance in debauchery, Hemessen underlines, on the contrary, the hard lot of mankind

constantly harassed by its faults. This novel interpretation originates in the developments that the literature of

the period brings to the theme. The iconography created in this way was to be immensely successful and would

underlie the Brothel Scenes and Joyous Companies that flourish in later Flemish painting.

In an astonishingly novel setting, the artist places in the foreground the prodigal son, surrounded by women of

easy morals and abandoning himself to the sins of the senses: lechery, gluttony, laziness. The artist peoples the

scene with strongly characterised, almost caricatural figures, that we find again in several of his paintings: the

aging pimp with a cupidinous and revolting grin, the red-faced, jeering drunk, the avid gambler, the prostitute.

These large figures strike the viewer with their bold foreshortening and their brusque gestures.

Concerned to express the third dimension, the artist explores, not without difficulty, the plastic possibilities

offered by the monumental forms of Italian art, onto which he grafts the at times cruel realism and vision of

detail that are specific to the Flemish tradition. All this strengthens the ambiguity of the picture, which takes

pleasure in displaying vices under the pretext of condemning them. The story continues at the back of the

picture: the prodigal son, having lost all his money and his pourpoint, is chased out of town; relegated to tending

the pigs he expresses a sincere repentance. Finally, he returns to the house of his father, who pardons him.

The shift from the large figures in the foreground to the miniaturised episodes in the background is somewhat

abrupt. Only the colonnaded portico, decorated with grotesques and foliated scrolls, provides a relative transition.

The elegant, rapidly drawn figures in the background are the work of an anonymous fellow artist, known as the

Master of Paul and Barnabas, who was deeply influenced by the famous tapestry patterns done in Rome by

Raphael and sent to Brussels in 1517 for weaving.

Max BeckmannMax BeckmannMax BeckmannMax Beckmann

The WayfarerThe WayfarerThe WayfarerThe Wayfarer----BoschBoschBoschBosch

In this circular painting Bosch reworked the figure of the wayfarer on the outer wings of the Haywain a decade or

so later, this time placing him against one of his most delicately conceived landscapes. The rolling sand dunes at

the right and the subdued tonalities of grey und yellow are sensitive transcriptions into paint of the rain-

drenched Dutch countryside. The large foreground figure closely recalls the Haywain pilgrim, except that he

appears even more haggard and poorly dressed. There are, however, some subtle differences. Except for the

snarling dog, with its possible allusion to slander, the dangers of the world are here chiefly spiritual. They are

embodied first of all in the tavern at the left, whose ruinous condition echoes the ragged clothes of the wayfarer.

The tavern symbolizes the World and the Devil in general, its dubious nature revealed by the man urinating at

the right, and by the couple embracing in the doorway. Another inmate of the house peers curiously through one

of the dilapidated windows.

The customer for whom the second woman waits may very well be the traveller himself. He has not just emerged

from the tavern, but has passed it in his journey and his path leads towards a gate and the tranquil Dutch

countryside beyond. Now he halts on the road, as if allured by its promise of pleasure. Whether the pilgrim will

turn away from the tavern to pass through the gate is as doubtful.

Some scholars assume that the picture represents an episode from the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Palma il Giovane Palma il Giovane Palma il Giovane Palma il Giovane ---- Amusements of the Prodigal Son Amusements of the Prodigal Son Amusements of the Prodigal Son Amusements of the Prodigal Son ---- 1595159515951595----1600160016001600

In Mary McClearyMary McClearyMary McClearyMary McCleary's retelling of Jesus's parable of the prodigal son, the feast that celebrates the prodigal's return

becomes a Texas-style family barbeque.

Seventeen figures fill the large image.

A couple dances as a man plays the fiddle. Women bring platters of fruit and pour lemonade. One young boy

takes a forbidden sip of beer.

The father, a middle-aged rancher with an ample belly, looks lovingly at his newly returned son, decked out for

the occasion in a pink sequined cowboy shirt.

The disconsolate elder son looks on from the background.

Slevogt’s "Prodigal Son"Slevogt’s "Prodigal Son"Slevogt’s "Prodigal Son"Slevogt’s "Prodigal Son" is a triptych which mixes realism and impressionism. The left panel offers a typical

depiction of the prodigal living extravagantly (and sinfully?) in the far country. The scene is Asian, a common

suggestion of the far country (compare Tissot). A geisha in a beautiful robe and with rich hair sits demurely at

the table with the golden clad prodigal while a dancer raises her arms provocatively in the background.

The right panel is as stark and realistic as the left is colorful and impressionistic. The destitute prodigal,

nearly naked, bent, limp, from exhaustion, from hunger, slumps in his desolation, having reached the nadir of

his experience in the far country. We see him bowed in shame with nowhere to turn but home, as difficult as

that may be.

The central panel portrays the prodigal’s return. He opens the door to the richly adorned room where sit

his richly robed father and his elder brother. The prodigal in contrast is filthy, ragged, unkempt, and most of all

emaciated. He lifts his hand not in a gesture of greeting, but in one of self-protection, unsure of his

welcome. The father pivots in surprise, his body coiled to spring upon his lost son, his arms primed for

embrace. The elder son stands stiff, unmoving and unmoved.