MASTER of the Prodigal Son

Flemish painter. He is known only by the moniker 'Master of the Prodigal Son', who worked in Antwerp between 1530-1560 and seems to have had quite an extensive workshop. He was named after his most famous work, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which now hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Although it is not known who the artist was, he is counted among the great masters of Flemish sixteenth-century mannerismGLOSSARYA movement in Italian art from about 1520 to 1600. Developing out of the Renaissance, Mannerism rejected Renaissance balance and harmony in favor of emotional intensity and ambiguity. In Mannerist painting, this was expressed mainly through severe distortions of perspective and scale; complex and crowded compositions; strong, sometimes harsh or discordant colors; and elongated figures in exaggerated poses. In architecture, there was a playful exaggeration of Renaissance forms (largely in scale and proportion) and the greater use of bizarre decoration. Mannerism gave way to the Baroque. Leading Mannerists include Pontormo, Bronzino, Parmigianino, El Greco and Tintoretto., being featured in museums worldwide.

It seems clear that the Master must have run a busy studio, as several subjects, such as Susannah and the Elders, are known in multiple versions of the same composition. In many works, which frequently depict subjects from the Old Testament, the master's elegant, elongated figures recall the work of Pieter Aertsen. His style has also been likened to that of Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Frans Floris, comparisons which would appear to confirm that the Master was primarily active in Antwerp, most likely from the 1530s until at least the 1550s.

He is known for landscapes and religious works, and possibly travelled to Rome. Though a monogram of "LK" was discovered in one of his paintings, to conclude that this person was the Lenaert Kroes mentioned as teacher in Karel van Mander's biography of Gillis van Coninxloo is incorrect.