The Prodigal Son

The son comes home

In the parable told by Jesus, a young man takes his inheritance, wastes it in a distant land and returns home in poverty, expecting nothing. His father runs to meet him and embraces him.

Eugène Burnand, a Swiss painter known for his religious scenes, painted the moment of the embrace. Its German title on Wikimedia Commons is Heimgefunden, meaning “home found.”

An old father and a bowed son

The father, white-haired and long-bearded, wraps his son in his cloak and draws the young man’s head against his shoulder. His eyes are lowered. The son buries his face, hiding his shame.

A hand on the heart

The father presses his other hand to his chest, a gesture of deep feeling. His hands are thin and veined, painted with care.

The son’s arm hangs limply at his side, in a worn brown tunic, a sign of exhaustion and humility.

Pale colours and a quiet setting

Burnand placed the two figures against a plain wall and a doorway, in soft, pale colours. Nothing distracts from the reunion. The quiet setting makes the emotion of the scene stronger.

A painter of faith

Eugène Burnand was deeply religious and wanted to make biblical stories real for modern viewers. He believed that the Gospel scenes were human dramas as well as sacred events. In The Prodigal Son, he shows the father and son as ordinary Swiss peasants, in simple clothes, in a plain landscape. The parable becomes a story that could happen anywhere.

The parable

In Luke’s Gospel, a young man asks for his inheritance, leaves home and wastes it all. Reduced to feeding pigs, he decides to return to his father and ask to be treated as a servant. But the father sees him from far away, runs to him, embraces and kisses him, and orders a feast. The story is about forgiveness and unconditional love.

Compared with Rembrandt

Rembrandt’s famous Return of the Prodigal Son shows the son kneeling in rags before his father, bathed in warm, golden light. Burnand’s version is simpler and more restrained. The figures stand in daylight, and the emotion is expressed through the strength of the embrace and the faces. Both paintings show the father’s love as the heart of the story.

Realism and landscape

Burnand was also a landscape painter, and he often set his religious scenes in Swiss or Mediterranean landscapes. The open setting, the clear light and the plain colours give the painting a sense of honesty and directness, typical of his work.

Where to see it

The Prodigal Son belongs to the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, now part of the Plateforme 10 arts district. Our hand-painted oil reproduction follows this composition. You can also read about Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son.

Questions about The Prodigal Son

What story does it show?

The parable of the prodigal son, Luke 15: the father welcoming his returning son.

Who painted it?

The Swiss painter Eugène Burnand (1850 to 1921).

What does Heimgefunden mean?

“Home found,” the German title of the picture.

Why is the son hiding his face?

He returns ashamed, after wasting his inheritance.

How does it differ from Rembrandt’s version?

Burnand’s is set in daylight with ordinary peasants; Rembrandt’s is darker and more dramatic.

Where is the parable found?

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15.

Sources and image credit

• Wikimedia Commons: Heimgefunden

Public-domain reproduction of The Prodigal Son (Heimgefunden), via Wikimedia Commons. Detail images are crops of the same image; no reconstruction or upscaling.