The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias’ Family (1637)

Rembrandt (1606-1669)

The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias’ Family
1637
Oil on panel, 66 x 52 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Tobit, Tobit’s old father, having regained his sight through the medication of the archangel Raphael, gives thanks to God with his son Tobit (Book of Tobit, XII, 21-22). Behind them, Hannah, Tobit’s wife, and Sarah, Tobit’s wife, both absent from the biblical story. The date, redone, is correct from a stylistic point of view and attests to Rembrandt’s first great baroque manner. The construction of the scene is inspired by Maarten van Heemskerck and Jan Pynas. Not to be confused with a Tobit from “Rembrandt” from the coll. Carignan, reported in 1729 then passed in the sale of this prince, Paris, 30 VII 1742, no. 245, undoubtedly the painting kept in Stuttgart (Corpus Rembrandt Paintings III [1989], no. C 86: Rembrandt doubtful, 1636), nor with another Tobit by Rembrandt, smaller, from the Fraula sale cited below, no. 136, not found. (Louvre)