Two Rembrandt etchings and two Piranesi's, a painting and a parable

Above is another example of a Rembrandt courtesy of artrenewal.org, the prodigal son. The figure of the father and son in the middle form a pyramid or triangle, a rock solid and stable shape, as they lean into each other. This is the sort of thing that makes Rembrandt great, the human story is expressed not just in a narrative but in the design as well. You can see how effective the rich darks are in the etching. I guess there was a time when I could take it as a given that everyone knew the story of the prodigal son, but that may no longer be true. I have written before about the importance of cultural literacy for those who would enjoy our cultures art, here is an example.If you don't know the story the etching loses most of its power. So here is a brief synopsis. This is from the book of Luke in the New Testament.

The son has done the unthinkable and asked for his inheritance upfront before his father dies, upon receiving it he goes to a foreign land and parties with members of the hip hop community until the money is gone. He is reduced to working for a farmer who raises pigs and is envying their food. He decides to return home and beg to be a servant to his father, for even his fathers servants are better off than he is. His father sees him coming up the road and runs to meet him, he orders the servants to slaughter the fatted calf, get the son a robe and some sandals, and throw a party because his son has returned home. The older brother, returning home resents the fuss made over his vagrant brother ands protests that dad never gave him a goat with which to party, "My son, the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."

Above is a Rembrandt painting where he tells the same story again. I think that must be the disgruntled brother on the right. Rembrandt must have enjoyed the ability of etching to give him the rich darks he used so much in his paintings as well. Here is a very different print that is very lightly bitten, it is a Rembrandt too but very open and airy.
Below is an etcher whose work is full of drypoint. These are by Piranesi, 1720 to 1778, about a hundred years after Rembrandt. These are from a series called the Carceri. These are a series of imaginary prison scenes that were sold in large folios. Tourists visiting Italy would return home with etchings from their travels and Piranesi and many others made etchings for this trade. I find these etchings fascinating. I think that lots of modern concept artists have looked at these. This could be Hogwarts. They are full of torture devices and catapults and infernal machinery.I will post a series of Piranesi etchings tomorrow.