The Father’s Curse: The Punished Son
The Father’s Curse: The Punished Son

On view

European Art

The Father’s Curse: The Punished Son,

ca. 1777–78

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1725–1805; born Tournus, France; died Paris, France
2016-90

A key transitional figure in eighteenth-century French art, Greuze bridged the pre- and post-Revolutionary eras with his moralizing genre scenes. In this preparatory sketch for one of his celebrated paintings, the artist presents a melodramatic reinterpretation of the final scene of the biblical parable of the prodigal son. Having gone off to war despite the pleadings of his family, the ragged and limping son returns, too late to be forgiven by his father before the latter’s death. In emphasizing the father’s death rather than the forgiveness granted to the son, Greuze reminds the viewer of the consequences of morally corrupt behavior.

Comparative image: Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Father’s Curse: The Punished Son, 1778. Oil on canvas, 130 x 163 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris

Information

Title
The Father’s Curse: The Punished Son
Dates

ca. 1777–78

Maker
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Medium
Brush with gray and brown ink and wash over graphite
Dimensions
25.8 × 36.5 cm (10 3/16 × 14 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
2016-90
Place Made

Europe, France, Paris

Signatures
Signed in ink, lower left, : J. B.te Greuze
Inscription
Inscribed in brown ink, on verso across top: J B Greuze
Culture
French
Type
preparatory drawings, drawings
Materials
laid paper, ink, wash, graphite
Subject
deaths, figures (representations), dogs, sons, fathers

[Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, March 29, 1954]; Jean Nicolay collection. private collection, France; [Didier Aaron, NYC, by 2016]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2016.

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