Prodigal Son Amid the Swine

Active as a painter, draftsman, and printmaker, Albrecht Dürer was an entrepreneur and a man of great intellectual curiosity, who studied physiognomy, fortifications, engineering theories, and mathematical problems. He wrote and illustrated treatises on perspective and anatomy, explored ideal proportions, and struggled to describe the actions of the human body; all this information he integrated into his art. Dürer's intense observation of the human and natural world is as evident in his simple depictions of animals and plants as in his most complex allegorical compositions. His work as a printmaker-he executed more than 250 engravings, woodcuts, drypoints, and etchings-was enormously influential and spread his name and reputation throughout Europe.

This beautiful impression of The Prodigal Son shows in brilliant detail Dürer's poignantly human interpretation of the biblical parable as a contemporary genre scene-an effect heightened by the artist's naturalistic rendering of the thatched architecture of a German farmyard. The ragged and barefoot peasant, swineherd, and landscape underscore Dürer's keen observation and specificity of description. Here, Dürer combines the critical moment of penitence and return, an iconography adopted by later artists, including Rembrandt.

The AMAM's rich holdings of ninety-four Dürer prints are nearly all gifts of the Max Kade Foundation and provide Oberlin students with a superlative resource for study, teaching, and research.