The Prodigal Son

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

National Gallery of Art

A nearly nude man with a pale, peach complexion sits on the ground facing our right in profile, leaning back on a mound with his legs extended in front of him and hands gathered at his chest under his bowed head in this wide, horizontal painting. The man's body almost spans the width of the composition. He wears only a light, slate-blue loincloth wound around his hips. He has a straight nose, a brown beard, and his hair falls past his ears. Diffused light creates a subtle shadow on his face and the backs of his bent knees. The landscape behind him is painted with sage-green and peanut-brown hills. Several darker brown hogs nuzzle in a mud puddle and stand in the meadow beyond the man. The horizon almost reaches the top edge of the composition, and the narrow band of sky is pale blue, nearly white.