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The Prodigal Son with the Swine
Artist: Hans Sebald Beham (German, 1500-1550)
Date: about 1540
Dimensions:
H: 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm); W: 3 15/16 in. (10 cm)
Medium: engraving
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Museum Purchase
Object number: 1923.3199
Label Text:In 1496, Albrecht Dürer made an unprecedented statement with his print The Prodigal Son Amid the Swine, depicting the prodigal kneeling in a barnyard amongst the pigs. The prodigal was, in Dürer’s print, equated with the animals about him. In this version by Sebald Beham, produced some 44 years later, the prodigal is shown in a bucolic landscape leaning on a staff and staring into the distance as he oversees the swine herd. While reduced in wealth and class status in Beham’s version, the prodigal maintains a certain amount of dignity.
Not on view
In Collection(s)