Prodigus

Prodigus   is a beautiful black and white engraving on paper, made by  Gerard de Jode  around 1570.

Title in Latin " Delitys fruitur veneris patrisque liei / Prodigus, at premitur mox miser ecce fame " on plate on the lower margin and " MC " monogrammed on plate on the lower left margin and inscription of the author on plate on the lower right margin (the name is partially readable).

The parable of the prodigal son is finely described in this etching, with a very detailed image of the dissipation of the man surrounded by prostitutes, portrayed while gambling.

In very good conditions, with signs of the time, usual yellowing of the paper and sporadic stains on the left margin.

Reference : Nagler 1697.

Gerard de Jode  (Nijmegen, 1509 - Antwerp, 1591)

The Dutch cartographer, engraver and publisher who lived and worked in Antwerp in the sixteenth century was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke in 1547 and began his activity as a publisher. His most important work is a  Speculum Orbis Terrarum  of two volumes published in 1578, aimed at competing with another atlas,  Theatrum Orbis Terrarum  by Ortelius, published eight years earlier in 1570.