Tobias and the Angel
17th century
Medium
Etching; second state
Dimensions
sheet: 11 9/16 x 9 13/16 in. (29.4 x 25 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.621.67
Tags
Art Historical Context
Anthonie Waterloo’s *Tobias and the Angel* captures a beloved biblical episode in which the young Tobias, guided by the archangel Raphael, journeys through a wooded landscape. Created in the seventeenth century during the Dutch Golden Age, the etching reflects the period’s fascination with both religious narrative and the natural world. Waterloo, a prolific etcher of landscapes, places the small figures within a richly detailed forest, inviting viewers to explore the scene as if walking alongside them. The medium of etching allowed Waterloo to achieve delicate lines and tonal contrasts that b...
About the Artist
Anthonie Waterloo · 1609–1690
Anthonie Waterloo (1609–1690) was a prominent Dutch Golden Age landscape artist, born on May 6 in Lille, then part of the Spanish Netherlands. Little is known of his early life beyond his mother, Magdalena Vaillant, who joined Amsterdam's Walloon Church in 1621, with Waterloo following in 1630; no records exist of formal training, and he was likely self-taught. Registered as a painter in Amsterdam...