1496
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Prodigal Son is a 1496 ink by Albrecht Dürer, a Northern Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This black-and-white engraving shows a man in old-fashioned clothes kneeling beside a messy pile of pigs. He looks tired, with his head down. Around him, the pigs snort and root in the dirt, while a small boat with a baby floats nearby. The background has simple buildings with steep roofs and a tall tower, but the focus is on the man and animals. The artist used sharp lines and shading to show texture in the clothes and fur. Next, look up engraving to see how artists like this made detailed prints.
Albrecht Dürer spent his life in Nuremberg, a busy German city where artists traded prints like currency.
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