he Prodigal Son by Henry Mosler (1841-1920)

Henry Mosler 1841-1920

Our work is a study for "L'enfant prodigue" executed by Henry Mosler in 1879.
It is dated in the same year, located in Paris and dedicated.

The original work, painted in 1879, was purchased by the French State for the Musée du Luxembourg,
marking the first official acquisition of a painting by an American artist by a French institution.
It was subsequently deposited with the Musée départemental breton in Quimper.

Preparatory studies for this painting, such as Kneeling Young Man and Standing Priest Parting Curtain with Right Hand, are held in the Graphic Arts Department of the Musée du Louvre.

Henry Mosler is an American painter, engraver and illustrator,
born in the former German Silesia, now in Poland.

From his early teens, Henry had a passion for art.
His parents agreed to let him apprentice with a wood engraver. With the latter, he learned the basics of engraving as well as the rudiments of painting.

From 1859 to 1861, he studied under Henry Beard, a portrait and landscape painter with a naturalist and classical orientation. This influence left a lasting mark on his work.

After the war, Henry moved to Düsseldorf for three years of study at the Académie Royale, before continuing his training at the Beaux-Arts in Paris.

In 1866, he returned to Cincinnati and began a career as a portrait painter.
However, he missed Europe.
In 1874, he moved to Munich and won a medal.

It was in France, however, that his talent was fully recognized, with several awards.

He then won a silver medal at the Paris Salon in 1889,
and a gold medal in 1888....

Collectors and public institutions particularly appreciate Mosler's work on Brittany.

For five years, he traveled the Pont-Aven region, painting strikingly realistic rural scenes.

The painter was part of the artistic movement of the late 19th century, praising rural life and its profound values in the face of the rise of urbanism and industrialization.