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Vorsterman, Lucas; Goudt, Hendrik (after); Elsheimer, Adam (after)
Tobias and the Angel (“The Large Tobias”) Tobie et l'ange (Le grand Tobie)
around 1659 v. 1659

Vorsterman was the most talented and celebrated of the engravers of reproductive prints for Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641). He was likely directed to Elsheimer’s work through Rubens’s own admiration for this artist. Vorsterman based his etching on Hendrick Goudt’s engraving after Elsheimer’s second painting—now lost—of Tobias and the Angel, known as The Large Tobias. Indeed, his radical transformation of the composition, leaving out the rich landscape background in favour of a monumental figure group filling the frame, conforms to Rubens’s preoccupation with the figure.

Vorsterman, Lucas; Goudt, Hendrik (after); Elsheimer, Adam (after)
Zaltbommel, Netherlands 1595-Antwerp, Belgium 1675; The Hague, Netherlands 1583-Utrecht, Netherlands 1648; Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany 1578-Rome, Italy 1610 Zaltbommel, Netherlands 1595-Antwerp, Belgium 1675; The Hague, Netherlands 1583-Utrecht, Netherlands 1648; Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany 1578-Rome, Italy 1610
Tobias and the Angel (“The Large Tobias”) Tobie et l'ange (Le grand Tobie)
around 1659 v. 1659
Etching, state 2 of 3 Eau-forte, 2e état sur 3
overall: 15.6 cm x 12.3 cm
Purchase, Bader Acquisition Fund, 2010 Achat, Fonds d’acquisition Bader, 2010
53-046.096

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