Die Rückkehr des verlorenen Sohnes

Murillo painted this around 1668 for the church of a Seville charity brotherhood he had joined himself, the Hermandad de la Caridad. Their work was practical mercy, and each of the large canvases he made for them stands for one act of it. This one is about clothing the naked, which is why a servant hurries in from the left carrying robes and shoes while a boy leads a calf for the feast. Murillo tells it through the parable of the prodigal son, the ragged runaway folded into his father's arms. He pushed those two figures much larger than everyone else, so the embrace is the first thing you find and the last thing you leave.