Description of the painting by Hieronymus Bosch “Prodigal Son”

Description of the painting by Hieronymus Bosch Prodigal Son

The artist Hieronymus Bosch always left riddles and places for reflection in the subjects of his paintings. With the help of a brush, he not only masterfully painted beautiful images, but also put deep allegories into them that are not understandable to every connoisseur of art.

The scene of the return of the prodigal son, he also saw and conveyed to the viewer in his complex and mysterious manner of performance.

The protagonist of this canvas is the prodigal son. He decided to end the miserable stagnation and return to a decent and clean life. The man looks very thin and slouching. This is a sign that the meager pennies he sometimes gets are not always enough to buy food.

Clothing wanderer is in very poor condition. It is frayed, stretched and torn in places. But he hardly has removable underwear.

Before being sent to a distant way, to his own father, the hero throws a farewell glance at his place of stay. From

now on, he will not cross the threshold of this dirty tavern. His departure attracted the attention of one woman. She looks out the window of construction, which is falling into decay, and, perhaps, even envies the hero.

He had the strength to escape from this unfortunate place. The other inhabitants of the nasty shelter do not care about what is happening. They do not think about morality and neither seek to change their lives.

From the traveler’s facial expression one can understand that he is tired of dragging out his miserable existence and he despises the grassy yard, with all the souls living on it. But a hint of a smile and raised eyebrows indicate that the fate of fate did not fully extinguish his spirit and desire for the best. Now he understood a lot.

Hieronymus Bosch was a deeply religious man. In the meaning of his picture, he wanted to put not only the description of the famous parable. The path from evil to good and from sin to the Lord is always thorny. And only the past to the end will receive the long-awaited happiness.


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Description of the painting by Hieronymus Bosch “Prodigal Son”