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The PRODIGAL SON revelling with HARLOTS
No image number on slide

The PRODIGAL SON revelling with HARLOTS

Date1814
Artist/Maker Amos Doolittle (1754-1832)
OriginAmerica, Connecticut, Cheshire
MediumBlack and white etching and engraving on paper with some period color.
Dimensionsunframed 20 5/8" x 16 9/16 " mat dimensions
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1940.1100.1,2
DescriptionLower margin: "The PRODIGAL SON revelling with HARLOTS/He wasted his Substance with Riotous Living/St. Luke 15 Chap 13. V./Published and Sold by Shelton & Kensett, Cheshire Con. October 24 1814."
Label TextAmerican engraver Amos Doolittle, almost directly copied a series of Prodigal Son mezzotints published by Haines & Son in London in May of 1799. Though Doolittle’s use of line etching and engraving rather than mezzotint changes the appearance of the compositions slightly, they are essentially the same. The biblical subject matter is drawn from Luke 15:11-32, one of Jesus Christ’s parables in which a younger son asks for his father for his inheritance early, squanders the fortune, is reduced to extreme poverty, and is forgiven by his father. This scene is the second of the four-part series. The Prodigal Son, seated at center, squanders his money on drink, women, and other suggested debaucheries. Though this print is directly copied from the Haines & Sons mezzotint (London, 1799), Doolittle changed the painting of a recumbent female nude to the less provocative figure of cupid with an arrow.[1]

A story of departure, decline, penitence, and redemption, the parable of the Prodigal Son has been an important subject for artists since the thirteenth century and was deeply entrenched in European and American culture. The subject reached the height of its popularity in Europe and the Atlantic world during the 18th century, as family values and structures shifted the position of the father as the totalitarian center of the family to a focus on children. The works of Rousseau and Locke encouraged nurturing and egalitarian familial relationships over strict discipline and harsh treatment. Despite the son’s failures and lack of judgement, the father’s forgiveness represents the ideal welcoming and compassionate family unit.[2]

The Prodigal Son narrative was a popular subject with both “high and low” audiences, resonating as a warning to the youth and an aspirational example to parents. Doolittle’s copies of this print appeared towards the end of the subject matter’s prominence in Europe, reflecting somewhat outmoded family values, however, his prints were copied by well into the mid-nineteenth century by other American engravers.[3] In addition to scriptural or personal reasons, the subject matter may have been appealing to Americans, particularly New Englanders, who were torn politically and morally over War of 1812. Published shortly before the end of the war, these prints may have sent a message to anti-war Americans that there was hope for redemption within the American family once the war was over.[4]

1. For comparison see The PRODIGAL SON revelling with HARLOTS, London: Published 29 May 1799, by Haines & Son, No. 19 Rolls Building, Fetter Lane, (1799), 799.05.29.02+, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.
2. Ellen D'Oench, PRODIGAL SON NARRATIVES, 1480-1980 (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1995), 10-13.
3. Ibid., 18.
4. Donald C. O'Brien, AMOS DOOLITTLE: ENGRAVER OF THE NEW REPUBLIC (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2008), 79-85.