Departure of the Prodigal Son, Francesco Cairo

A major and unpublished work by a fascinating artist, The Departure of the Prodigal Son is undoubtedly one of the most important rediscoveries on the art of Francesco Cairo in recent years, and is one of the few works of his most interesting period.
A Lombard artist marked both by the tradition of his native region (he was trained by Morazzone) but also by the Caravaggio movement, Cairo was to develop, until the 1640s, a singular art. His surprising images, his palette of chromatism and luminism still very Lombard, his very personal interpretation of Caravaggism or his pronounced taste for a form of morbidity and sensuality place him on the fringes of contemporary artistic movements and make him one of the most intriguing painters. of his time, before he evolved into a more moderate art, under the influence of Roman Baroque and Venetianism.
The Departure of the Prodigal Son, dated by Francesco Frangi to the mid-1630s, takes up the famous parable related in the Gospel of Luke (15; 11-32). Wearing a headgear adorned with a superb yellow and red plume, the young man (perhaps a self-portrait of the artist, according to Frangi), leaning on the pommel of his sword, holds in his hand the purse which constitutes his inheritance, and takes leave of his father, whose attitude and gaze betray all concern.
Cairo manages here to create an image of particular intensity, with a very modern tone, through the strange interaction between the two protagonists. Its extremely tight framing, its composition which leaves little room for superfluous narration, the skilful and delicate use of chiaroscuro as well as the masterful pictorial quality of the whole are all elements that make this work still touches our contemporary sensibility today.
The history of the painting until its entry into the Boissy d'Anglas collection in the 19th century is poorly known. In his monograph, Francesco Frangi considered that another version of Departure of the Prodigal Son was probably the one mentioned in the artist's post-death inventory in 1665, under no. 79 ("un figliol prodigo origine del Cavagl. e largo 1 alto Br. 1 on. 2" [i.e. approximately 72.5 x 60 cm.]), but he was unaware of the present work at the time, which could just as well be close to this mention, despite the difference in size, which applies to both copies.  

Francesco Cairo (1607 – 1665), also known as Francesco del Cairo, was an Italian Baroque painter active in Lombardy and Piedmont.  

He was born and died in Milan. It is not known where he obtained his early training though he is strongly influenced by the circle of il Morazzone, in works such as the Saint Teresa altarpiece in the Certosa di Pavia.

In 1633, Cairo moved to Turin to work as a court painter, including portraits, to Vittorio Amedeo I of the House of Savoy. Between 1637 and 1638, Cairo travelled to Rome, where he encounters the works of Pietro da Cortona, Guido Reni and of the Caravaggisti. He returns to Lombardy to complete altarpieces for the Certosa of Pavia and a church at Casalpusterlengo. He painted a St. Theresa for San Carlo in Venice. Between 1646 and 1649, he returns to Turin, and paints an altarpiece for Savigliano and the church of San Salvario. He is also known as Il Cavalière del Cairo, because in Turin, he received the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus in recognition of his merit.

Many of his works are eccentric depictions of religious ecstasies; the saints appear liquefied and contorted by piety. He often caps them with exuberant, oriental turbans. He is sometimes compared with his Milanese contemporary, Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, also called il Panfilo.

Available as a fine art print and as a stretched canvas panel (heavy fine art canvas stretched over 1.5 inch deep edge solid wood frame).