id: 144844 accession number: 1969.69 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.69 updated: 2023-08-23 22:15:22.715000 Tobias Healing His Father's Blindness, c. 1640–45. Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669). Pen and brown ink, touched with white gouache; framing lines in pen and brown ink; sheet: 21.1 x 17.7 cm (8 5/16 x 6 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1969.69 title: Tobias Healing His Father's Blindness title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1640–45 creation date earliest: 1640 creation date latest: 1645 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Netherlands, 17th century technique: Pen and brown ink, touched with white gouache; framing lines in pen and brown ink department: Drawings collection: DR - Dutch type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 21.1 x 17.7 cm (8 5/16 x 6 15/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: beige(1) laid paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: verso, upper center, in graphite: -13 [crossed out]; upper right, in black chalk: rembrant; upper right, in brown ink: D; upper center, in brown ink: [15-50?] / Tobias; upper left, in brown ink: 9 [sideways]; lower left, in brown ink: [illegible, cropped]; lower left, in brown ink: No 2910; lower left, in brown ink: Rembrandt; lower right, in brown ink: -d[l?]-13 [upside down] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1969 opening date: 1970-01-27T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970). title: Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century opening date: 1973-07-10T04:00:00 Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973). title: Seventeenth Century Dutch Drawings from American Collections opening date: 1977-01-28T05:00:00 Seventeenth Century Dutch Drawings from American Collections. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (January 28-March 13, 1977); Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (April 1-May 15, 1977); Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (June 1-July 15, 1977). title: Italian Drawings with von Hirsh Acquisitions opening date: 1978-09-15T04:00:00 Italian Drawings with von Hirsh Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 15-December 4, 1978). title: Seventeenth Century Netherlandish Graphics opening date: 1982-04-27T04:00:00 Seventeenth Century Netherlandish Graphics. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-August 1, 1982). title: National Schools of Style opening date: 1983-06-14T04:00:00 National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983). title: Netherlandish Drawings from the Permanent Collection opening date: 1989-10-10T04:00:00 Netherlandish Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 10-December 31, 1989). title: Rembrandt: The Master and His Workshop opening date: 1991-09-12T04:00:00 Rembrandt: The Master and His Workshop. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany (organizer) (co-organizer) (September 12-November 10, 1991); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (co-organizer) (December 4, 1991-March 1, 1992). title: Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2000-08-27T00:00:00 Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). title: Rembrandt's Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher opening date: 2004-02-14T00:00:00 Rembrandt's Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (February 14-May 9, 2004). title: Rembrandt Paintings in America opening date: 2011-10-30T00:00:00 Rembrandt Paintings in America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 19-May 28, 2012). title: Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2014-03-09T00:00:00 Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Catalogue descriptive des dessins de maitres anciens expoose a l’ecole des beaux-arts. L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1879. * Exposition d’oevures de Rembrandt, dessins et gravures. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 1908. --- PROVENANCE Ignace-Joseph de Claussin, Paris and London, 1766-1844 (Lugt 485, not stamped); his sale, Batignolles, Paris, 2 December 1844, lot 53 ("Tobie recouvrant la vue") to Van Os. date: ?-1844 footnotes: *
An exhibition catalogue from 1879 erroneously listed this drawing as once belonging to the Narcisse Revil collection, a mistake that was been repeated in the subsequent literature as late as 1991 but here resolved. 
citations: George Jacob Johan van Os, Paris and Amsterdam, 1782-1861; his sale, Roussel et Defer, Paris, 20-22 January, 1851, lot 179 ("Tobie recouvrant la vue") date: 1844-1851 footnotes: citations: Collection Defer-Dumesnil, Pierre Defer (1798-1870) and Henri Dumesnil (1823-1898), Paris (Lugt 739); his sale, Drouot, Paris, 10-12 May, 1900, lot 84) to Reinach date: ?-1900 footnotes: citations: Joseph Reinach, Paris, 1856-1921. date: 1900-? footnotes: citations: by descent to Madame Pierre Goujon, daughter of Joseph Reinach, Paris date: footnotes: citations: with Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York date: footnotes: citations: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1969- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The seated figure in this drawing is receiving cataract surgery on his left eye, a procedure pioneered in Amsterdam in 1635 by Dr. Job Janszoon van Meekren. digital description: This drawing is a prime example of the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn's innovative approach to biblical narrative, in which he often humanized traditional pictorial formulas through the inclusion of observed details from everyday life. It depicts the climactic moment of the Book of Tobit, an apocryphal book of the Old Testament, in which, instructed by the archangel Raphael, Tobias heals his father Tobit's blindness by rubbing his eyes with fish gall. With spontaneity, a deft hand, and deceptive simplicity in his mark-making, Rembrandt depicts an intimate family scene including the archangel, Tobias, Hannah, and Sarah around a seated Tobit. Hannah’s spectacles, a unique detail among images of the scene created by Rembrandt and his circle, further thematizes sight. Rembrandt’s most innovative addition to the story centers on Tobias, who concentrates intensely to use a scalpel, rather than fish gall, to perform a cataract operation on his father’s left eye. Cataract surgery was a new procedure pioneered in Amsterdam in 1635 by Dr. Job Janszoon van Meekren, and Rembrandt may have witnessed the doctor perform it. wall description: Rembrandt created some of the most extraordinarily creative and emotionally poignant drawings of the Dutch golden age. With spontaneity, a deft hand, and deceptive simplicity, he recorded deeply personal observations of the world around him. Although this drawing depicts the climactic moment of the Book of Tobit, an apocryphal book of the Old Testament, it also references 16th-century life in Amsterdam. Instructed by the archangel Raphael, Tobit’s son Tobias restores his blind father’s sight by rubbing his eyes with fish gall. But instead of illustrating the miracle in explicitly supernatural terms, Rembrandt showed Tobias using a scalpel to perform a cataract operation on his father’s left eye-a procedure pioneered in Amsterdam in 1635 by the eye specialist Dr. Job Janszoon van Meekren. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Dutuit, Eugène. Tableaux et dessins de Rembrandt; catalogue historique et descriptif. Paris: A. Lévy, 1885. page number: p. 104 as "Tobie recouvrant la vue" (under Chevalier de Claussin) url: Hofstede de Groot, C. Die Urkunden über Rembrandt (1575-1721). Haag: M. Nijhoff, 1906. page number: p. 182, no. 815 url: Greeff, R. Rembrandts Darstellungen der Tobiasheilung; nebst Beiträgen zur Geschichte des Starstichs; eine kulturhistorische Studie. Stuttgart: F. Enke, 1907. page number: pp. 54-56, no. 3, pl. VI url: Hofstede de Groot, C. and F. Lippmann. Original Drawings by Rembrandt Harmensz Van Rijn: Reproduced in the Colours of the Originals by Emrik & Binger at Haarlem. 1900-1911. page number: fourth series, part 2, no. 55 url: Bredt, Ernst Wilhelm. Rembrandts Erzahlungen: mit etwa 70 Abbildungen eingeleitet und gewahlt. Munchen: H. Schmidt, 1918. page number: pp. 76, 89 url: Kruse, John, and Carl Neumann. Die Zeichnungen Rembrandts und seiner Schule im National-Museum zu Stockholm. Haag: M. Nijhoff, 1920. page number: p. 60, fig. 69 url: Bredt, Ernst Wilhelm. Rembrandt-Bibel: vier Teile in einem Band gebunden, mit 240 Abbildungen und zwanzig Gravüren. München: Schmidt, 1921. page number: Vol 1, p. 159 (2nd ed, 1927, vol. 1, p. 178) url: Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold. Die Handzeichnungen Rembrandts. New York: E. Weyhe, 1925-. page number: Vol. 1, pp. 252, 271 (repr.), 479, no. 252 url: Van Dyke, John Charles. The Rembrandt Drawings and Etchings, With Critical Reassignments to Pupils and Followers. New York, London: C. Scribner, 1927. page number: no. 149 (as unknown pupil F), pl. XXXVIII url: Benesch, Otto. Rembrandt, Werk und Forschung: von Otto Benesch. Wien: Gilhofer u. Ranschburg, 1934-35. page number: pp. 35-36 url: Benesch. Otto. The Drawings of Rembrandt. [A Critical and Chronological Catalogue]. London: Phaidon Press, 1954. page number: Vol. 3, p, 156, no. 547, fig. 677 url: Held, Julius S. Rembrandt and the Book of Tobit. [Northampton, Mass.]: Gehenna Press, 1964. page number: p. 16, pl. 24 (reprinted in Held 1996, p. 129, pl. 26) url: Slive, Seymour. Drawings of Rembrandt. New York: Dover Publications, 1965. page number: Vol. 2, no. 501 url: Tümpel, Christian, and Astrid Tümpel. Rembrandt legt die Bibel aus. Zeichn. u. Radierungen aus d. Kupferstichkabinett d. Staatl. Museen Preuss. Kulturbesitz, Berlin. Berlin: Hessling, 1970. page number: no. 33 url: Benesch, Otto, and Eva Benesch. The Drawings of Rembrandt. London: Phaidon Press, 1973. page number: Vol 3, p. 150, no. 547. fig 715 url: Robinson, Franklin Westcott. Seventeenth Century Dutch Drawings from American Collections. International Exhibits Foundation, 1977. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 34, pp. 38-39, no. 34; frontispiece url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 158 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n178 Schatborn, Peter, "Ben Broos, Rembrandt en tekenaars uit zijn omgeving, Oude tekeningen in het bezit van de Gemeentemusea van Amsterdam waaronder de collectie Fodor [review]. Oud Holland 96 (1982): pp. 251-58. page number: p. 254, fig. 2 url: Wetering, Ernst Van De, J. Bruyn, J., C. J. van Nes, and Murray Pearson. A corpus of Rembrandt paintings. The Hague: M. Nijhoff Publishers, 1982. page number: Vol. 3, p. 555; Vol. 5, pp. 216-217, fig. 161 url: Bevers, Holm, Peter Schatborn, and Barbara Welzel. Rembrandt, the Master & His Workshop: Drawings & Etchings. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. page number: pp. 70-72, no. 18 url: Tümpel, Christian. Het Oude Testament in de schilderkunst van de Gouden Eeuw. Zwolle: Waanders, 1991. page number: p. 121, n. 81 url: Liedtke, Walter A., von Sonnenburg Hubertus, et al. Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. page number: p. 167, fig. 87. url: Graff, Jan. Drawings by Rembrandt and other 17th Century Dutch Artists in the Department of Prints and Drawings. Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, 1996. page number: pp. 34-35, fig. 10. url: Schama, Simon. Rembrandt's Eyes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. page number: pp. 425-28 (repr.) url: Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. page number: Mentioned: no. 67, pp. 166-67, p. 293; Reproduced: 167 url: Kozieł, Andrzej, and Michael Lukas Leopold Willmann. Rysunki Michaela Willmanna (1630-1706). Wrocław: Wydawn. Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2000. page number: p. 72, fig. 19 url: Rosand, David. Drawing Acts: Studies in Graphic Expression and Representation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. page number: pp. 248-251, fig. 238 url: Ackley, Clifford S., Ronni Baer, Tom Rassieur, and William W. Robinson. Rembrandt's Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher. 2003. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: cat. no. 133, p. 202 url: Schwartz, Gary. The Rembrandt Book. New York: Abrams, 2006. page number: p. 360, fig. 638 url: Taylor, Michael. Rembrandt's Nose: Of Flesh & Spirit in the Master's Portraits. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2007. page number: p. 77, fig. 25 (French edition 2006, p. 52, fig. 25) url: De Witt, David, Agnes Etherington Art Centre. The Bader Collection: Dutch and Flemish Paintings. Kingston, Ont: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 2008. page number: p. 180, fig. 108a url: Slive, Seymour. Rembrandt Drawings. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009. page number: p. 211, fig. 15.20 url: Petherbridge, Deanna. The Primacy of Drawing: Histories and Theories of Practice. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010. page number: p. 109, fig. 65 url: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin--Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Holm Bevers, Georg Josef Dietz, and Antje Penz. Zeichnungen der Rembrandtschule im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett: kritischer Katalog. Dresden : Sandstein Verlag ; Berlin : Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, [2018] page number: Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 229-230 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.69/1969.69_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.69/1969.69_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1969.69/1969.69_full.tif