The Prodigal Son
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 13 7/8 x 10 1/16 in. (35.2 x 25.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1925
Accession Number
25.62.53v(a)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the Prints gallery of The Metropolitan Museum of Art,The Prodigal Son (1766) stands as a masterful etching by Richard Earlom, a composition by the Baroque artist Salvator Rosa and published by John Boydell Measuring 13 7/8 x 10 1/16 inches, this intimate sheet captures dramatic profiles of male heads, evoking the parable of redemption and forgiveness from Luke 15. Rosa's original, with its intense emotionality and rugged character studies, exemplifies 17th-century Italian Baroque drama, while Earlom's etching translates it into precise, tonal lines. Etching, Earlom's favored medium, allowe...
About the Artist
Richard Earlom|Salvator Rosa|John Boydell · 1728–1794
Richard Earlom (1743–1822) stands as one of the supreme masters of mezzotint engraving in British art history, whose technical virtuosity and dedication to reproductive printmaking brought the works of Old Masters to unprecedented audiences. Born in London on May 14, 1743, Earlom spent his entire career transforming paintings and drawings into prints of extraordinary quality, elevating reproductiv...