Rembrandt, 'Anna and the Blind Tobit', about 1630

Anna and the Blind Tobit

Rembrandt

Room 22

About the work

Overview

A cold, grey light creeps through an open window into a room that is itself very old – no glass in the window, a heavy wooden shutter, an open fire with an earthenware pot beside it. The light falls onto an old man. He sits facing into the room, his hands clasped, his head lowered, his face almost lost in shadow. This is Tobit; he sits near his wife Anna, who winds wool on a frame. An apocryphal story tells us that Tobit was a good and holy man but that God made him blind to test his faith.

The old couple await the return of their son Tobias, who has gone to collect money owed to Tobit in order to relieve their poverty. After many adventures Tobias returns, bringing a miraculous cure for Tobit’s blindness. Rather than the miracle, Rembrandt has chosen to celebrate the age, patience and faith of the old man and woman while they wait.

In-depth

Even as a young man, Rembrandt was interested in the depiction of old age and aged people. He painted them as if every etched line, every crooked bone, every little brown mark on every hand were important, badges of their owner’s longevity, experience and wisdom.

In this painting, a cold, grey light creeps through an open window into a room that is itself very old – no glass in the window, a heavy wooden shutter, an open fire. The shadows are deep. There’s just a glint of light on an earthenware pot tipped on its side and on the back and side of an old man sitting by the window. He sits wrapped in a long robe with a fur collar, the ruffled neck of an old shirt cupping his wrinkled cheek and grey beard. His head is bound in a white headdress with a black cap on top. He is very still: his hands are clasped on his lap and his head lowered as if deep in thought. This is Tobit. An apocryphal story tells us that he was a good and holy man, but that God made him blind to test his faith.

Tobit’s wife Anna is closer to us but turned away. She looks down at her hands, busy winding wool on a frame, an occupation that requires great patience. The flames from the fire and her fingers are the only things moving. It is as if the whole room is waiting. The ivy clinging at the window suggests endurance, patience – ‘holding on’.

The old couple are waiting for their son Tobias, who has gone on a long journey with their dog to find money owed to Tobit in order to ease their poverty. Tobias has many adventures, finds a wife and meets the Archangel Raphael, who helps him fight a huge fish. At last he returns home with the money, the wife, and the fish’s entrails, which prove a cure for Tobit’s blindness – as the Archangel promised.

The tale was popular in Rembrandt’s time. Tobit’s faith was honoured and the Archangel Raphael was venerated as the protector of travellers and as a healer. After the return of a son after a long, dangerous journey, a picture of Tobias and his family could be commissioned as a thanksgiving, as Rembrandt’s painting may have been, although rather than the return of someone loved, the sensitive portrayal of Tobit and Anna celebrates old age, faith and patience.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Anna and the Blind Tobit
Artist: Rembrandt
Artist dates: 1606 - 1669
Date made: about 1630
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 63.8 × 47.7 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1926
Inventory number: NG4189
Location: Room 22
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 17th-century Dutch Frame

Provenance

There was a painting of about the same size, attributed to Rembrandt, of Tobias old and blind and Anna spinning, in the collection of the Unshod Carmelites at the Convent of San Hermenegildo, Madrid, by 1776 (the collection was largely dispersed by 1814) but this was probably of different composition. No. 4189 was in the collection of John Bell, Glasgow; at the John Bell sale at North Park, Glasgow, 1–5 February 1881 (lot 357; 50 gns) it was apparently bought by Sir Renny Watson of Braco Castle, Perthshire. On the death of Sir Renny’s widow it passed to his cousin’s son, Denis Elliot Watson, London, from whom it was purchased in 1926.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2014

Loan to Kenwood House

Kenwood House (English Heritage)

15 October 2014 - 17 May 2015
2017

Rembrandt: Lightening the Darkness

Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

21 October 2017 - 7 January 2018
2019

Young Rembrandt

Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal

1 November 2019 - 9 February 2020

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

27 February 2020 - 1 November 2020

Bibliography

1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1907

C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
1926

C.J. Holmes, 'Tobit and His Wife, by Rembrandt and Gerard Dou', The Burlington Magazine, XLIX, 1926, pp. 55-61
1953

L. Münz, 'Rembrandts Bild von Mutter und Vater', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, L, 1953, pp. 141-90
1953

J.G. van Gelder, 'Rembrandts vroegste ontwikkeling', Mededelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen afd Letterkunde, XVI/5, 1953, pp. 273-300
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1966

J. von Rosenberg, S. Slive and E.H. ter Kuile, Dutch Art and Architecture 1600-1800, Harmondsworth 1966
1990

R. Baer, Dissertation on Dou, Dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York 1990
1991

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
1991

C. Grimm, Rembrandt selbst: Eine Neubewertung seiner Porträtkunst, Stuttgart 1991
1991

W. Liedtke, 'Letter from Berlin, Rembrandt at the Altes Museum', Apollo, CXXXIV, 1991, pp. 356-8
1991

C. Brown, J. Kelch and P.J.J. van Thiel, Rembrandt: The Master and his Workshop (exh. cat. Gemäldegalerie SMPK at the Altes Museum, 12 September - 10 November 1991; Rijksmuseum, 4 December - 1 March 1992; The National Gallery, London, 25 March - 24 May 1992), New Haven 1991
1991

J. Held, 'Rembrandt and the Book of Tobit', in J. Held, Rembrandt Studies, Princeton 1991, pp. 118-43
1994

C. Tümpel, Im Lichte Rembrandts: Das Alte Testament im Goldenen Zeitalter der niederländischen Kunst (exh. cat. Westfälisches Landesmuseum, 11 September - 20 November 1994), Zwolle 1994
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2022

S. Avery-Quash and A. Lepine (eds), Fruits of the Spirit: Art from the Heart, London 2022

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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