id:			162193
accession number:	2002.10
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.10
updated:		2023-04-22 12:24:35.543000

The Blindness of Tobit: The Large Plate, 1651. Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669). Etching and drypoint; sheet: 16.3 x 13.2 cm (6 7/16 x 5 3/16 in.); platemark: 15.8 x 12.9 cm (6 1/4 x 5 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2002.10

title:				The Blindness of Tobit: The Large Plate
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1651
creation date earliest:		1651
creation date latest:		1651
current location:		
creditline:			Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	Netherlands, 17th century
technique:	etching and drypoint
department:	Prints
collection:	PR - Etching
type:		Print
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: White-Boon 42, Bartsch 42

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CREATORS

* Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)  - artist

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measurements: Sheet: 16.3 x 13.2 cm (6 7/16 x 5 3/16 in.); Platemark: 15.8 x 12.9 cm (6 1/4 x 5 1/16 in.)
state of the work:	I/II
edition of the work: 	

support materials:

	description:	laid paper
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art
	opening date:   2014-03-09T00:00:00
	<i>Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).

	title:		Monotypes: Painterly Prints
	opening date:   2015-05-31T00:00:00
	<i>Monotypes: Painterly Prints</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 31-October 11, 2015).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	Earl of Aylesford (Lugt 58); John Heywood Hawkins (Lugt 3022); Duke of Buccleuch (Lugt 402); [sale London, Christie's, 19-22 April 1887 lot 1777, bought by Danlos, Paris]; Alfred Strölin; [sale Klipstein & Kornfeld, Bern, 7 June 1961, lot #20 bought by C.G. Boerner]; Private Collection, Germany, 1961-91; Joseph Ritman, Amsterdam; [sale Artemis and Sotheby's, no. 19, New York, 1995]
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
Having sent Tobias to collect a debt, a blind Tobit knocks over his wife’s spinning wheel and gropes for the door in his excitement to see his long-absent son. Rembrandt selectively inked and wiped the plate of this beautiful impression to enhance the scene’s meaning. The dark ink left behind the figure accentuates Tobit’s isolation and makes his beard-the only area of the print without any ink-seem even brighter, dramatizing the father’s anguished expression. Tobit’s shadow is cast by the firelight onto the wall to the far left of the doorway, symbolizing how far he has strayed from his goal and the poignancy of his condition.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Franklin, David. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> London: Scala Arts &amp; Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 42 - 43
	url:		

	Watkins, Catherine Bailey. <em>Rembrandt's 1654 Life of Christ Prints: Experimentation, Tradition, and the Question of Series.</em> 2011.
	page number: 	Reproduced: P. 2015, fig. 84
	url:		

	Monney, Gilles, Camille Noverraz, and Vincent Barras. Pierre Decker: médecin et collectionneur. Lausanne : Éditions BHMS, 2021.
	page number: 	Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 74-75
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.10/2002.10_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.10/2002.10_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.10/2002.10_full.tif