Tobit burying the Dead
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 1/16 × 11 3/4 in. (20.4 × 29.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Bertina Suida Manning and Robert L. Manning, 1980
Accession Number
1980.1135.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-17th century, Benedetto Castiglione, known as Il Grechetto, created *Tobit Burying the Dead*, a etching capturing a scene from the biblical Book ofit. This apocryphal tale depicts the pious Jew Tobit defying Assyrian laws in Nineveh by burying his slain countrymen at night, an act of faith amid peril. Produced around 1647–51, the work exemplifies Castiglione's mastery during the Italian Baroque era, blending dramatic religious narrative with Genoa's vibrant artistic tradition. As an innovative etcher, Castiglione rivaled contemporaries like Rembrandt in technique, using etching—a p...
About the Artist
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto) · 1609–1664
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, known as Il Grechetto, was baptized on March 23, 1609, in Genoa and died on May 5, 1664, in Mantua. Born into a large family, he collaborated closely with his brother Salvatore, an artist who shared his talents, and later taught his son Francesco, whose works were sometimes confused with his own. His parents placed him in the studio of Giovanni Battista Paggi, where...