Tobias and the Angel

Art Historical Context

This etching captures a beloved biblical scene from the Book of Tobit, in which the young Tobias journeys under the protection of the archangel Raphael. The composition shows the pair traveling through a sweeping landscape, accompanied by Tobias’s loyal dog and carrying a large fish—an emblem of divine providence and healing. Small in scale yet rich in narrative detail, the print invites close looking, revealing subtle interactions between the figures and their natural surroundings. Created between 1644 and 1652 as the third state of three, the work reflects the collaborative nature of seventeenth-century printmaking. Wenceslaus Hollar’s etching reproduces a composition associated with Adam Elsheimer and Hendrick Goudt, allowing a wider audience to experience a subject originally painted on copper. The medium’s fine lines and tonal gradations beautifully convey both the intimacy of the travelers and the breadth of the landscape. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints, this impression was acquired through the Joseph Pulitzer Bequest in 1917. Its modest size and exquisite detail exemplify how prints served as both devotional objects and vehicles for artistic exchange across Europe during the Baroque period.

About the Artist

Wenceslaus Hollar|Adam Elsheimer|Hendrick Goudt · 1607–1677

Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was a prolific Bohemian etcher who became one of the most accomplished printmakers of the seventeenth century. Born in Prague, he trained under Matthäus Merian in Frankfurt before entering the service of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1636. Hollar spent most of his career in England, where he produced approximately 2,740 etchings documenting an extraordinary range...