Rembrandt, Self-Portrait with Saskia as the Prodigal Son, c1636 to 1637, Netherlands, (Dutch) Baroque, oil on wooden panel around 51x59 inches
Gemaldegalerie, Alte Meister, Dresden.
Rembrandt, Return of the Prodigal Son, 1665, Oil on canvas, approximately 8x6 feet
Netherlands, (Dutch) Baroque,
Russia, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.
In two paintings of the Prodigal Son story from the
New Testament, Rembrandt presents different versions of the same theme, both
shaped by his own life. The first painting, made between 1636 and 1637, is a
small panel sometimes called The Prodigal Son in the Tavern.
This particular painting was made not for a church or noble estate but likely as a private piece. Rembrandt didn’t have a formal patron for this work—he painted it during his marriage to Saskia van Uylenburgh, who came from a well-off family. Around the time he painted this, he was doing quite well. He had just purchased a large house in Amsterdam and had a successful workshop. Saskia is shown seated on his lap, and they're both dressed in rich, exotic-looking clothes. Rembrandt looks directly at the viewer with a raised glass, while Saskia glances over her shoulder. They're seated in what seems like a tavern, surrounded by food and drink.
The setting and their pose echo the biblical story of the Prodigal Son—a parable from the Gospel of Luke. In the story, a young man demands his inheritance early, leaves home, and spends everything on pleasures before returning in shame to his father, who forgives him. Rembrandt doesn’t show the son’s return or repentance. Instead, he paints the moment of excess—celebration and indulgence. It’s not clear if this was meant to be a direct retelling of the parable or more of a loose nod to it.
In it, Rembrandt painted himself and his wife, Saskia, as the characters. He’s shown as the prodigal son during the part of the story when he is still wasting money and celebrating in a foreign city. He's seated with a large goblet of wine in his hand and a feathered hat on his head. Saskia is sitting on his lap. Their clothes are elaborate and detailed, including a wide-brimmed hat, a gold-trimmed jacket, and jewelry, showing a clear connection to Dutch upper-class fashion of the time. The setting includes items like metal dishes and food that point to a high-living lifestyle. Rembrandt used smooth brushwork, clear outlines, and strong contrasts of light and dark to make the scene easy to read. The background stays dark, so the couple stands out more in the center of the picture.
This painting was made when Rembrandt was in his early thirties. At that time, he had recently married and had reached a peak of professional success. The composition of the painting is tight and focused. Light falls on the couple, creating strong highlights on skin, fabric, and metal. The use of chiaroscuro—a technique that uses sharp contrast between light and shadow—is clear and controlled. It was a common feature of Baroque painting and often used to draw the eye to a particular subject or moment in the story.
He often included himself in his works and made nearly 100 self-portraits over the course of his life. This one is a little unusual because it's not just a formal self-study—he’s playing a character, and so is Saskia. The costumes are theatrical, and the entire scene seems almost staged, like a performance.
At the time this was painted, religious art in the Netherlands had shifted. Because of Calvinist influence, churches didn’t commission art filled with saints or icons anymore. So religious themes—like this nod to the Prodigal Son—were handled differently. Artists told stories in more personal, sometimes everyday ways.
The second painting is The Return of the Prodigal Son, made around 1665, late in Rembrandt’s life. It is clearly not a literal self-portrait but it might be an allegorical one. It is also a much different scale or size. It’s much larger in size than the first one from around 1636, and shows the moment when the son returns home and kneels before his father. The figures in this version are more still. The father is standing over his son and touching him with both hands. The son is bald, thin, and barefoot. He’s kneeling on the ground with his head down. The father is dressed in a long robe, and there are other figures standing in the shadows. Some scholars have pointed out that the central figure of the father could be a symbolic self-portrait of Rembrandt near the end of his life, though this isn’t confirmed.
In this painting, Rembrandt uses looser brushwork. The surface of the canvas shows thicker paint and less sharp detail. The colors are darker, with deep reds, browns, and shadows. Light still plays a central role, but it’s softer and more diffused than in the earlier work. The light highlights the father’s face and hands and the son’s back and head, drawing attention to the physical contact between them. The other figures are more shadowed and stay in the background.
This change in formal elements—like color, texture, and composition—lines up with changes in Rembrandt’s own life. By the 1660s, he had lost his wife, several of his children, and had also gone bankrupt. These events may explain why the second painting feels quieter, and more focused on forgiveness rather than celebration. While the first painting uses theatrical poses and material detail to show a scene of indulgence, the second centers on stillness and physical closeness.
Both works were influenced by the works of Caravaggio, the Catholic Reformation, and the Protestant Reformation. The high drama, realism, and drama, reflect an era in which religious artworks often took on a more personal or reflective tone. Artists like Rembrandt focused less on decorative religious imagery and more on scenes that encouraged the viewer to identify with biblical figures. The idea was to imagine yourself in the story—to think about your own decisions or life experiences in relation to scripture. This devotional style invited the viewer to connect with religious stories on an emotional and human level, rather than through dramatic or idealized settings.
It’s one of many paintings that blend portraiture and storytelling in Rembrandt’s work. And while his anatomy sometimes seems a little awkward, the figure’s gestures and proportions are less accurate than painters like Caravaggio, Rubens, or Velázquez, Rembrandt used texture, light, and expression in ways that were unique at the time. He didn’t always follow strict classical proportions. But his brushwork and the way he captured faces and emotions made his work stand out.