Oil on canvas, over subtle preliminary drawing in pencil
Monogrammed and dated lower right. 80 x 91 cm (31,4 x 35,8 in)Image: 77 x 88,5 cm (30,3 x 34,8 in).
With exhibition and collection labels on verso of stretcher, with Vienna customs stamp on canvas.

PROVENANCE: Galerie Alexander Gebhardt, Munich
Collection Dr. Georg Schäfer, Schweinfurt (no. 73-3733).

EXHIBITION: Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg, Klassizismus und Romantik in Deutschland, 30 June - 2 October 1966, no. 174 (color plate 174).
Schloß Laxenburg, Romantik und Realismus in Österreich, 1968, no. 164 (illu. 164).

LITERATURE: R. Bachleitner, Die Nazarener, Munich 1976, p. 105 (with illu.).
A. Strasoldo-Graffemberg, Ludwig Ferdinand Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1788-1853), Phil.-Diss. Freiburg i. Br. 1986, catalog raisonné no. 38, p. 217.

The painting “Heimkehr des verlorenen Sohnes“ (Parable of the Prodigal Son) was made in 1838. All in line with the principles of the Nazarenes" it shows the well-known scene of the biblical parable with a highly emotional character. The father welcomes his remorseful son, who had blown his inheritance, with open arms and without reservation. In clearly contoured forms over a detailed preliminary drawing, Carolsfeld puts the scene’s protagonists in the brightly lit foreground. The view onto a wide hilly summer landscapes opens through an architecture with arcades carrying fine ornaments. A wonderful strong local coloring make for explicitness and clarity. After Carolsfeld had been occupied almost exclusively with relig