Netherlands / c. 1640–45
Tobias Healing His Father's Blindness
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Tobias Healing His Father's Blindness as drawing (Netherlands · c. 1640–45).
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.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this drawing as Pen and brown ink, touched with white gouache; framing lines in pen and brown ink and credits Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669).
The museum's collection notes: 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.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtTobias Healing His Father's BlindnessOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.