Thuiskomst van de verloren zoon

This wide-format print shows a ragged young man kneeling in the center before an older man in a turban and flowing robes. To the left, the same young man is seen in the distance tending to a group of pigs near a windmill. The scene is set in a vast landscape that transitions from rural cottages to a fortified city gate on the right.

Hendrick Goltzius was a leading figure in the Haarlem school, and this work illustrates the popular moral theme of repentance and spiritual homecoming. The story of the soul's departure and eventual return to its origins was a major preoccupation for both Renaissance theologians and Neoplatonist philosophers.