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The Prodigal Son Amid the Swine
Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
probably 1496
Medium/Technique
Engraving
Dimensions
Platemark: 24.4 × 18.9 cm (9 5/8 × 7 7/16 in.)
Sheet: 24.7 × 19 cm (9 3/4 × 7 1/2 in.)
Sheet: 24.7 × 19 cm (9 3/4 × 7 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Seth K. Sweetser Fund
Accession Number32.537
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
According to the biblical parable, the Prodigal Son was reduced to dining with pigs in a farmyard after squandering his money. The closely observed swine and the rustic setting inspired the depiction of similarly naturalistic subjects by later artists.
Catalogue Raisonné
Bartsch (intaglio) 028; Meder 28 Ia/I
State
Ia/I
Signed
Signed in plate, lower center: [Dürer's monogram]
Marks
Watermark: Imperial orb (M. 56); recto, collector's stamp in black ink, lower right: PL [with dot underneath; Peter Lely, Lugt 2092]; collector's stamp in black ink, lower left: [John Spencer, Lugt 1532]; in old ink [now brown], lower center to the right of Dürer's monogram : A.g.1. [written by a cataloguer in preparation for sale after Lely's death]
ProvenancePeter Lely (b. 1618 - d. 1680; Lugt 2092), London. John Spencer (b. 1708 - d. 1746; Lugt 1532), Althorp; by descent within the collection of the Earls of Spencer, Althorp; June 25, 1919, Althorp sale, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, lot 43. By 1922, FitzRoy Carrington (b. 1869 - d. 1954), Niantic, CT; 1932, sold by FitzRoy Carrington to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 1, 1932)