Picture in Focus: The Return of the Prodigal Son by Marie Romero Cash

February 12, 2017

Picture in Focus: The Return of the Prodigal Son by Marie Romero Cash

New Mexican Saint-maker Marie Romero Cash created this week's new artwork, inspired by Rembrandt's painting of The Return of the Prodigal Son, for the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. The two figure study in-the-round is carved from wood, covered in a layer of gesso, and painted in water-based pigments in the traditional style of the bulto sculptures of the American Southwest. Cash has freely interpreted the Rembrandt prototype, eliminating all superfluous details to focus our attention on the faces, arms, and hands of the two men. The merciful father and the wayward son are still bound in the tight embrace we see in the original painting, but the father has now dropped to his knees, putting him almost on the same level with his son. He raises his face toward heaven in a prayer of thanks, as the returned prodigal closes his eyes, a child at rest in its parent's loving arms. Cash has reduced the age difference between the two figures. The younger father can easily double as a Christ figure welcoming all black sheep back into the fold. This new sculpture from Marie Romero Cash can now be viewed on her profile page in the Sacred Artists section. (John Kohan)