CIRCLE OF CORNELIS CORNELISZ VAN HAARLEM | THE PRODIGAL SON

In the catalogue raisonné of the artist, Pieter J.J. van Thiel lists this painting as the first of two almost identical contemporary copies that derive from a work Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem painted in 1618 and recorded as having been destroyed in a fire at Potsdam in 1945(1). The second painting listed was formerly sold in 1968 in Vienna at Dorotheum(2) and present whereabouts are unknown. The only difference between these two versions is the absence of a monogram and date. He further suggests that the signature was removed at some point between 1905-1967, making it likely that these two paintings are one and the same.

The subject of this painting is from The Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-13), which was a popular theme in the Netherlands during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It depicts the moment when the younger son squandered all his wealth in wild living in a distant place from home.

1. See Literature.

2. See Provenance.