This colored print is an outdoor scene of a young man in tattered clothing on his knee asking forgiveness from his father. The father is weeping tears of joy at his return. Behind them a small band plays while a dozen people dance in celebration. The setting is the courtyard of a grand white country mansion.
The parable of the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son is among the best- known Christian morality tales and is found in Luke 15:11-32. The youngest of the two sons demands his share of his father’s estate which the father gives him. Shortly after, he runs off and squanders the wealth “in wild living.” Finding himself destitute, he returns to his father, repents his ways, and begs to be allowed to serve as a hired servant. The father rejoices at the return of his son “who was lost and is found.” Meanwhile, the obedient, older son is angry and refuses to join the celebration. His father pleads with him to forgive and to understand his joy.
This print was produced by Henry R. Robinson, who was a caricaturist and lithographer in New York City. He was listed as a carver and gilder from 1833-34, as a caricaturist from 1836-43 and as a lithographer and print publisher from 1843-51. Henry Robinson was known for political prints that championed the causes of the Whig Party (which later merged with the Republican Party) and satirized the opposing Democratic Party. Historian Peter C. Welsh has called Henry Robinson the "Printmaker to the Whig Party."
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