La despedida del hijo pródigo, de Murillo (Museo del Prado)
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo·c. 1650
Historical Context
La despedida del hijo pródigo (The Departure of the Prodigal Son), painted around 1650 and now in the Museo del Prado, belongs to Murillo's series illustrating the parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15. The scene shows the young man taking his inheritance from his father before departing for a life of dissolution — a subject that allowed Murillo to depict contrasting emotions of paternal anxiety and youthful overconfidence. The Prodigal Son parable was especially popular in Baroque art for its dramatic narrative arc and its message of divine mercy and forgiveness, themes central to Counter-Reformation theology and to Murillo's own artistic vision.
Technical Analysis
The departure scene shows the young man leaving his elderly father, creating an emotional tension between familial affection and youthful restlessness. Murillo's warm, naturalistic palette gives the parable the quality of observed contemporary life rather than distant scriptural narrative.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the emotional tension Murillo creates between the departing son's confident eagerness and the anxious concern visible in the father's bearing.
- ◆Look at the architectural setting suggesting aristocratic wealth — Murillo establishes the prosperity about to be squandered through the visual opulence of the departure scene.
- ◆Find the warm, naturalistic palette that gives this biblical parable the quality of observed contemporary life rather than distant scriptural narrative.
- ◆Observe that this Prado painting is part of Murillo's Prodigal Son series, which traces the complete arc from inheritance through dissolution to reconciliation.
