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Cock, Maerten de
Coastal Mountain Landscape with Tobias and the Angel Paysage montagneux en bord de mer avec Tobie et l’ange
1620s années 1620

Two young men, one taller and apparently older than the other, walk along an elevated path, against the backdrop of an expansive sea below and a rocky coastline with mountains in the distance. The shorter figure carries a large fish under his arm, identifying the scene as an episode from the journey of Tobias. The apocryphal Book of Tobit tells how Tobias is sent by his father to collect a debt from a kinsman far away, accompanied and guided on his journey by Azarius—the archangel Raphael in disguise. When Tobias is attacked by a large fish (6:2), his companion instructs him to catch it and remove its gall, heart and liver (later used to drive away the demon that plagues Tobias’s wife Sarah and to cure his father’s blindness). This depiction shows Tobias carrying the fish and continuing on his way, although the original text indicates that the fish was roasted and eaten immediately after yielding its precious harvest.

Cock, Maerten de
Antwerp, Belgium 1588-Rome, Italy 1661 Antwerp, Belgium 1588-Rome, Italy 1661
Coastal Mountain Landscape with Tobias and the Angel Paysage montagneux en bord de mer avec Tobie et l’ange
1620s années 1620
Oil on copper Huile sur cuivre
overall: 18.1 cm x 27 cm
Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader, 2012 Don d’Alfred et Isabel Bader, 2012
55-013.02

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