Return of the Prodigal Son (c. 1510): Art, History and Details

Return of the Prodigal Son (c. 1510) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A leading 16th-century Dutch printmaker and painter, Lucas van Leyden is credited with bringing a high degree of naturalism to the craft of printmaking. Although the landscape never became the primary subject, in prints such as Return of the Prodigal Son Lucas created a plausible yet imaginary setting.

Object facts

• Title: Return of the Prodigal Son
• Date: c. 1510
• Creator attribution: Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533)
• Culture: Netherlands, 16th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1927.361

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

Further reading listed by the museum

• H. S. F. "An Engraving by Lucas Van Leyden." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 15, no. 1 (1928): 4-6.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.