Alors que la parabole du Fils Prodigue fut un support aux vives controverses religieuses du XVIe siècle qui touchèrent Anvers, les productions artistiques (peintures, gravures, dessins) restituèrent une image plus consensuelle de cette histoire. Au lieu de matérialiser les nombreuses exégèses théologiques (contradictoires) sur le message du Christ, les artistes préférèrent puiser dans la culture profane (comme les pièces de théâtre) et mettre l’accent sur la scène de la dissipation avec les courtisanes ou insister sur des détails triviaux.Cette thèse étudie les nombreuses raisons qui les ont conduits à de tels choix (poids de la censure, recherche d’une vaste clientèle, flatterie du spectateur…) et analyse les choix de mise en scène, épisode par épisode. Elle démontre comment les ateliers d’artistes ont reproduit des formules répétitives ; comment les choix iconographiques favorisèrent tour à tour la méditation spirituelle, la délectation visuelle ou les pensées condescendantes envers autrui. / While the parable of the Prodigal Son was a support in the deep religious controversies which affected Antwerp during the 16th century, the artistic productions (paintings, prints and drawings) gave back a more consensual image of this history. Instead of representing the numerous contradictory theological exegeses about the message of Christ, the artists preferred to drawn their inspiration from profane culture (as plays) and to emphasize the scene of the waste with the courtesans or to insist on everyday and coarse details.This thesis studies the numerous reasons which led them to such choices (weight of censorship, search for a vast clientele, flattery of the spectator…) and analyses the choices of setting, episode by episode. It demonstrates how artist studios reproduced repetitive formulae and how the iconographic choices facilitated alternately the spiritual meditation, the visual enjoyment or the condescending thoughts to others.

Rembrandt's use of light in his self-portraits has received an abundance of scholarly attention throughout the centuries--and for good reason. His light delights the eye and captivates the mind with its textural quality and dramatic presence. At a time of scientific inquiry and religious reformation that was reshaping the way individuals understood themselves and their relationship to God, Rembrandt's light may carry more intellectual significance than has previously been thought. Looking at Rembrandt's oeuvre of self-portraits chronologically, it is apparent that something happened in his life or in his understanding that caused him to change how he used light. A distinct and consistent shift can be observed in the location and intensity of light to the crown of the forehead. This change indicates that light held particular significance for Rembrandt and that its connection to the head was a signifier with intentional meaning. This meaning could have developed as a result of Rembrandt's exposure to and interest in the contemporary theological and philosophical debates of the seventeenth-century Netherlands, particularly those relating to the physical and eternal nature of the soul stemming from the writings of René Descartes. The relative religious and intellectual freedom of the Dutch Republic provided a safe place for Descartes to publish and defend his metaphysical ideas relating to the nature of the soul and know-ability of God through personal intellectual inquiry. The widespread disturbance to established thought caused by his ideas and methods sped their dissemination into the early seventeenth-century discourse. Rembrandt's associations with the educated elite, particularly Constantijn Huygens and Jan Six, increases the probability that he knew of this new philosophy and had the opportunity to consider its relevance to his own quest for self-knowledge. With his particular emphasis on self-exploration and expression, demonstrated through his prolific oeuvre of self-portraits, and his inclination toward emotive, complex, and interdenominational religious works, it follows that Rembrandt would be eager to embrace Descartes' metaphysics and demonstrate his awareness through his self-portraits. Light on the forehead becomes a metaphor for enlightenment and is the key to reading Rembrandt's late self-portraits through the lens of Cartesian influence.