Signed and dated "99" lower right. On the back old label bearing the words "Depot du 16 avril 1917 / Mr Riff / rue de la Mairie / Douai". In original frame, probably Bellery-Desfontaines manufacture.

Provenance: Paul Riff Collection (1858-1929), as per label on the back;
Pauline-Marie-Julienne Riff Collection (1890-1978);
Rennes Enchères, 1 April 2012, n. 18;
Private collection, Italy.

Literature: L. Bénédite, "Art et décoration", 1st semester 1899, repr.;
J.-D. Jumeau-Lafond, '"Les Peintres de l'âme, le symbolisme idéaliste en France", cat. exh. Brussels, Musée d'Ixelles 1999, p. 98, n. 65.

"The prodigal son" can be referred to the artistic phase of Henri Martin more deeply influenced by symbolist art and its main themes, masterfully expressed here, such as introspection, allegory, dreamy aesthetics and the relationship between human figures and a timeless nature expression of ancestral symbologies. Before devoting himself, starting from the early years of the twentieth, to the Neo-Impressionist phase of his production, Henri Martin was very close to the most influential movements of international Symbolism, especially the Order of the Rose + Croix of Josephin Péladan, at whose Salon he exhibited in 1892. A preparatory drawing from 1894 of the present painting is known.

The autograph of the painting has been confirmed by Claude Cyrille Martin with authenticity certificate dated April 15, 2012.