The Prodigal Son Feasting with Harlots, from The History of the Prodigal Son
1592
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 23.3 × 17.1 cm (9 3/16 × 6 3/4 in.); sheet: 33.2 × 26.1 cm (13 1/8 × 10 5/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
267995
Art Historical Context
In the Prints and Drawings department of the Art Institute of Chicago sits *The Prodigal Son Fe with Harlots*, a captivating 1592 engraving by artist Jacob Matham. This work forms part of Matham's series *The History of the Proal Son*, vividly illustrating the biblical parable from Luke 15. Here, the wayward son squanders his inheritance in riotous living, surrounded by revelers in a scene of moral decadence. Created during the late Northern Renaissance in Haarlem, where Matham trained under his father, the engraver Hans Matham, it reflects the era's fascination with moral tales and virtuoso p...
About the Artist
Jacob Matham · 1571–1631
**Jacob Matham: Master Engraver of Haarlem** Jacob Matham was born on October 15, 1571, in Haarlem, in the Northern Netherlands, into a burgeoning artistic milieu. Following his father's early death, his mother married the renowned painter and engraver Hendrick Goltzius in 1579, who adopted the young Jacob and trained him rigorously in the workshop as his stepson and pupil. Matham's first signed ...