3 ft. 5 in. × 4 ft. 5 in. He kneels half-naked amongst a herd of swine, penitently raising his eyes to heaven; behind him, a ruined hut, a river on left, and small trees on right; background, mountains. Salamanca sale (1867), 39,000 francs. Companion to preceding; same history. Sketch in Madrid Museum.—Curtis, 194.
PRODIGAL SON, RETURN OF, Murillo,
Dudley House, London; canvas, H. 3 ft. 5
in. × 4 ft. 5 in. Half-naked, falling on his
knees in the arms of his father, who, followed
by the mother, brother, and sister,
has come from the house to receive him.
Bought from a dealer by Queen Isabella,
who presented it in 1856 to Pius IX.; acquired
from Vatican by Lord Dudley in
1872 in exchange for a Holy Family by Bonifazio
and a Madonna with Saints by Fra
Angelico. How it became separated from
the five others of the series is not known.—Curtis,
195.
By Murillo, Stafford House, London; canvas, H. 7 ft. 9 in. × 8 ft. 6 in. He falls on his knees as his father embraces him; a little dog leaps up to welcome him; behind him, a man and a boy leading the fatted calf; on right, servants bringing rich garments and the ring. Companion to Christ healing the Paralytic. Painted in 1670-74 for Hospital of La Caridad, Seville; bought in 1835 by Duke of Sutherland, with the Conception, and Abraham and the Angels, for 500,000 francs. Viardot calls it "the most beautiful of all the pictures that have come out of Spain."—C. Bermudez, Carta, 78; Ponz, Viage, ix. 148; L'Illustration, May 31, 1852; Viardot, Musées de France; Curtis, 195; Gower, Hist. Gal. of England; Waagen, ii. 67.
By Rembrandt, Hermitage, St. Petersburg; canvas, H. 8 ft. 1 in. × 6 ft. 3 in.; signed. The Prodigal kneeling before his father, who is dressed in a scarlet mantle over yellow; at right, an aged man; at left, an aged woman; in background, two women. Painted in 1636. Sold in 1764 for 6,000 livres.—Smith, vii. 51.
PROMETHEUS, pictures. See Evanthus,
Panænus.
PRON, LOUIS HECTOR, born at Sézanne
(Marne), in 1817. Landscape painter,
pupil of Lapito and of Flers. Medal,
3d class, 1849. Works: Spring-time near
Troyes (1849); Fontainebleau Forest in December,
Path in Bois de Vincennes (1852);
Pictures in Salons of 1853, 1855, 1857, 1859,
1861, 1863-68, 1870, 1875; Spring Morning
in Valley of the Orne (1878); The Neighbours,
Hill-side (1879); Banks of the Seine
(1881); April Morning (1882).—Bellier, ii.
317.
PROPHETS, Raphael and Timoteo della
Vite, S. M. della Pace, Rome; fresco, over
the Sibyls. On left, Daniel seated and King
David standing; on right, Jonas standing
and Hosea sitting; behind each group, an
angel in repose, and above, another flying.
Designed by Raphael; painted in 1514 by
Timoteo della Vite.—Passavant, ii. 138;
Müntz, 491; Vasari, ed. Mil., iv. 340.
PROSCRIBED ROYALIST, Sir John E.
Millais, Bart., John Pender, Esq., M.P.;
canvas, H. 3 ft. 4 in. × 2 ft. 5-1/2 in. A Cavalier,
hiding in a tree from his pursuers, is
visited by his betrothed, who, bringing food
for her lover, looks anxiously around as she
yields one hand to his caresses and with
the other searches her pocket for the provisions.
The tree, an ancient oak, lies in
the full sunlight; back of it the eye passes
from tree to tree till lost in a labyrinth of
boughs. The model for the Cavalier was
Arthur Hughes, the painter; for the lady,
Miss Ryan, who sat also for the lady in the
Huguenot. The background was painted
in the summer of 1852, in a wood near
Hayes Common, Kent. Royal Academy,
1853; sketch in oil, Mr. C. Langton, Liverpool.
Engraved by W. H. Simmons.
PROSERPINA, Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
F. Leyland, near Liverpool. Illustrative of
Rossetti's poem, "Proserpina." The goddess,
holding in her hand the pomegranate,
by eating of which she precluded her return
to earth, is passing along a corridor in her
