The PRODIGAL SON in MISERY

Date1814

Artist/Maker Amos Doolittle (1754-1832)

MediumBlack and white line etching and engraving on paper with some period color.

Dimensionsunframed 20 5/8" x 16 9/16" mat dimensions

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1940.1100.1,3

DescriptionLower Margin: "The PRODIGAL SON in MISERY./He would fain filled his Belly with the husks that the swine did eat./St Luke 15 Chap 16 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 third of the four-part series shows the results of the son’s extravagance. Dressed in rags, impoverished and alone, the Prodigal Son takes the dirty and lowly job of herding pigs. To show how far he has fallen, the accompanying text explains that, in his desperation, the young man felt lucky to eat “the husks” or food that the pigs ate.

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.[1]

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. [2] 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.[3]

1.Ellen D'Oench, PRODIGAL SON NARRATIVES, 1480-1980 (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1995), 10-13.
2. Ibid., 18.
3. Donald C. O'Brien, AMOS DOOLITTLE: ENGRAVER OF THE NEW REPUBLIC (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2008), 79-85.