The Blindness of Tobit

Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rembrandt executed a number of paintings, drawings, and etchings related to the story of Tobit, revealing a particular affinity for this apocryphal book of the Hebrew Bible. In this etching, the artist depicts the moment when the old and blind Tobit turns to welcome home his long-expected son (Tobit 11:5–11). In haste, Tobit knocks over a spinning wheel and runs into the doorpost, with the dog of his approaching son Tobias nestled into his garment. Details such as the dog, the wheel, and the fish hanging from the hearth are not referenced in these verses of the story but give dimension to Tobit’s impoverished life. Masterfully etched in a lively, open style, this scene demonstrates Rembrandt’s dexterity with an etching needle.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art