Gelijkenis van de verloren zoon

A detailed Mannerist engraving showing the beginning of the biblical parable. The young man, dressed in contemporary 16th-century finery, raises his hat in a gesture of departure while his father reaches out toward him. The composition moves from the cramped, vertical architecture of the city on the left to a wide, expansive landscape on the right, symbolizing the unknown world the son is entering.

As a central figure of the Haarlem Mannerists, Goltzius's work reflects the intellectual culture of the Netherlands where biblical parables were often interpreted through the lens of moral philosophy and the internal journey of the soul. The theme of the 'descent' into worldly excess followed by a 'return' to the father resonates with Neoplatonic ideas regarding the soul's journey through the material realm.