Abraham de Pape, 'Tobit and Anna', about 1658
About the work
Overview
The Book of Tobit, an apocryphal book of the Old Testament, tells the story of Anna and Tobit, the married couple depicted in this painting. Their faith was tested by God: they were reduced to poverty and Tobit was blinded. With the help of the Archangel Raphael, their son Tobias eventually restored Tobit’s sight.
Anna is shown at a spinning wheel, her source of income, and the empty cupboard is testament to their poverty. In its tranquil domesticity, the scene resembles a genre painting; Abraham de Pape mostly painted genre scenes in a style close to that of his teacher, Gerrit Dou. Rembrandt, de Pape’s fellow Leiden townsman, also painted Tobit and Anna decades earlier (the painting was once thought to be by Dou).
The illusionistic curtain is a common feature in seventeenth-century Dutch paintings. It harks back to the story of the duelling artists Zeuxis and Parrhasius, as told by the Roman author Pliny. Parrhasius asked Zeuxis to pull aside a curtain covering his picture, but the curtain itself turned out to be a painted illusion.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Tobit and Anna
- Artist
- Abraham de Pape
- Artist dates
- before 1621 - 1666
- Date made
- about 1658
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 40.7 × 56 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1886
- Inventory number
- NG1221
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
-
1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.