(Munich 1632–1698 Venice)
The Return of the Prodigal Son, oil on canvas, 116 x 165 cm, framed

Provenance: European Private Collection

Literature: G. Ewald, Johann Carl Loth 1632–1698, Amsterdam 1965, p. 76, no. 174a, pl. 56, fig. 174a.

The present painting, illustrating the Return of the Prodigal Son, is published in the catalogue raisonné by Gerhard Ewald (Johann Carl Loth 1632–1698, Amsterdam 1965, p. 76, no. 174a, pl. 56, fig. 174a) as a secure work by Johann Carl Loth, a chief exponent of Venetian painting in the second half of the 17th Century who combined the local tradition and distinct references to Titian and Tintoretto with a naturalistic language and Baroque innovation. During the decades following the middle of the century, the movement of the ‘Tenebrosi’ emerged, whose style was marked by an amalgamation of 16th-century Venetian elements with an influence from Luca Giordano. The composition and the figures in the foreground are reminiscent of Guercino’s early period. However, the scene appears more crowded and the general impression is more overwhelming. The work dates from the artist’s maturity, when the painter gradually passed over to a more monumental Baroque language during the 1670s. The intensity of drama achieved through the compositional refinement and the figures’ gestures is far removed from the expressiveness displayed by Giambattista Langetti or Antonio Zanchi. A version slightly differing in size and with minor deviations is conserved in the Staatliche Gemäldesammlungen, Kassel.

Provenance: European Private Collection Literature: G. Ewald, Johann Carl Loth 1632–1698, Amsterdam 1965, p. 76, no. 174a, pl. 56, fig. 174a. The present painting, illustrating the Return of the Prodigal Son, is published in the catalogue raisonné by G