The Return of the Prodigal Son

Most of what hung in the imperial picture gallery in Vienna in the 1770s was already old, gathered by the Habsburgs over two centuries. This canvas was new. Pompeo Batoni finished it in Rome in 1773, and it was bought for the emperor's gallery straight from the painter as soon as it was done. The subject is the parable from Luke's Gospel about a younger son who takes his share of the inheritance, wastes it far from home and comes back destitute, ready to ask only to be taken on as a hired hand. Batoni paints the moment the father reaches him. The son kneels, almost naked, and the old man draws his own cloak around the young man's shoulders. A few years later the imperial collection was rehung in the Upper Belvedere palace and opened to the public. Batoni's signature is on the bowl at the lower left, P. BATONI PINXIT ROMAE 1773.