This hand-colored print, retouched with watercolors, is of an interior scene depicting three men around a table in a well-appointed study. They are dressed in tightly tailored blue or brown frock coats, britches, white shirts, cravats(sons) and ascots (father). One is standing and receiving money from his father. The other son is seated on a red chair and looks on disapprovingly.
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 originally produced by Amos Doolittle and later printed by the lithographic firm of D. W. Kellogg and Company. Amos Doolittle (1754-1832) was an American engraver who was trained as a jeweler and silversmith. He lived in Connecticut and was especially well known for his four engravings of the battles of Lexington and Concord. He also engraved Biblical scenes, bookplates and portraits.
Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874) founded D. W. Kellogg and Company in Hartford, Connecticut in 1830. Even before its first retail store opened in 1834, the D.W. Kellogg & Co. lithography firm was well established and popular in United States, particularly in the South and the Southwest. As the founding member of the family company, Daniel Wright Kellogg was responsible for the initial growth and popularity of the firm. After he left the company, it continued to flourish for decades under his younger brothers and other family members.
A nearly identical print (60.2921A) was made by the same principal publisher and another (60.2944) with a modified image was created about a decade later. Print (60.2938) depicts the same theme with a different illustration and by a different publisher.
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