I believe we can reasonably understand why Rembrandt chose this Biblical situation with the two characters. What is noteworthy, is his arrangement. The son is the first face we see. By use of his arm, Rembrandt led our eye from him to Saskia, the real reason he is there. From her, we transition back to him; but, in between them we see the other vice. His composition is full of movement and excitement. The line work is busy and almost chaotic. The only straight lines are the sword and glass; however, both are tilted.
The attention to the fine detail is clearly baroque. Three notable examples. Close examination of the plume in his hat. He could have presented a feather with a few strokes; but, he gave us light detail on a dark background. One can almost see it flowing. The…show more content… At fifty-five, the sun was setting on his life and career. When we look back with him, surveying his life, we see tragedy interrupted by moments of joy. By 1639, four years after the Prodigal Son, he had buried two infant daughters. In the same year, he purchased Saskia a beautiful house in Amsterdam. If you recall his excessive spending, he continued this momentum by purchasing the house. Rembrandt financed 27,000 Dutch guilders for it, that is valued at almost $260,000 today. Three years after the house purchase, a second wave of misfortune hit, his dear Saskia, the model in several of his works died; however, before her death she bore him a son. It was her death that seemed to be the apex followed by a continual downward slope. By 1642, patrons were again seeking him out. Over the next ten years he had several high and low points. These include a prolonged intimate relationship with a live-in nurse, which ended with him in and out of court. Soon after the nurse, he developed a second relationship with his housekeeper, twenty years his