''The Prodigal Son'' (Italian: ''Il figliol prodigo'') is a painting by the Greek-born Italian artist

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

. It is painted in

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

on canvas and was completed in 1922 as de Chirico was in transition from the

Metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

style of his earlier works to the neoclassicism he essayed in the 1920s. The biblical subject matter is interpreted by de Chirico as a stone effigy of a father placing his hand on the shoulder of a mannequin representing the son. The dimensions of the painting are 87 by 59 centimeters. It is housed at Museo del Novecento,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy.Galleria d'Arte Moderna
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prodigal Son, The 1922 paintings Paintings by Giorgio de Chirico Chirico Paintings in the Museo del Novecento