Return of the Prodigal Son

Having settled in Venice in 1657, Loth rose to become the leading Venetian painter of the latter half of the 17th century. Through his commissions at European courts, he was much in demand as a teacher. The Return of the Prodigal Son shows Loth’s typical large figures rendered in close-up. The warm, earthy and brown shades are those of the “tenebrosi”, in the naturalistic chiaroscuro style of Caravaggio (1571–1610).
Deeply moved, the son believed lost kneels before his father, who has received him with clemency. His fingers, clenching into his muscular body, reflect the emotional tension of the scene. The ring, proffered with jewelled garments and fine fabrics, and the father’s baroque attitude make it clear that the son is being received once more into the home.

DUCKE Astrid: Loth Johann Carl, Return of the prodigal son, in: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, p. 108