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Tobias with the Angel

Date
1613
Material
Engraving
Classification
Prints
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
plate: 9 5/8 x 10 1/8 in. (24.5 x 25.7 cm)
sheet: 9 13/16 x 10 3/16 in. (24.9 x 25.9 cm)
Credit Line
The Julian and Hope Edison Print Fund and funds given by the University Lane Foundation
Rights
Public Domain
Object Number
87:2007
NOTES
This print, based on a painting by the influential German artist Adam Elsheimer, illustrates the Biblical tale of Tobias and the Angel. Tobias is sent by his blind and impoverished father to collect a debt. The archangel Raphael accompanies him to ensure his safety, and instructs him on making a medication to cure his father's blindness from a monstrous fish.

This engraving, showing Tobias and the angel walking on a path together just as night is falling, is a tour de force in the handling of dark tonalities. Hendrik Goudt introduced a brilliant new way of incising, webbing, and layering lines to build up deep blacks which had never before been seen in printmaking. This rare impression of Tobias with the Angel is one of the very best examples of Goudt's technique.

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