The Prodigal Son
Medium
Etching on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 24.3 × 32.2 cm (9 5/8 × 12 11/16 in.); Plate: 26.3 × 33.2 cm (10 3/8 × 13 1/8 in.); Sheet: 30.7 × 36.9 cm (12 1/8 × 14 9/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
35988
Art Historical Context
**The Prodigal Son (1913) is a poignant etching by French artist Louis Auguste Lepère (184–1918), capturing the biblical parable from Luke 15. In this scene, the wayward son returns home, by his forgiving father—a timeless tale of redemption and familial love. Created on the eve of World War I, Lepère's work reflects the era's interest in moral narratives through fine art prints, blending spiritual depth with his signature realism. Etching, Lepère's favored medium, involves coating a metal plate with acid-resistant ground, scratching lines into it, and immersing it in acid to etch the grooves...
About the Artist
Louis Auguste Lepère · 1849–1918
Louis-Auguste Lepère (1849–1918) was born in Paris on November 30 to the sculptor François Lepère, immersing him early in the artistic world. At age thirteen, he apprenticed in the studio of the English wood engraver Joseph Burn-Smeeton, training there from 1862 to 1867, and later attended drawing courses under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the Petite École (now École nationale supérieure des art...