24

Aert de Gelder (1645-1727)
Edna blessing Tobias. Signed A. de Gelder f. Canvas, 88 × 112 cm.

The Netherlands Office for Fine Arts, inv.nr.NK 1909 (on loan to the Groninger Museum). From the Goudstikker gallery (see nr. 19).

The young Tobias was sent by his father Tobit on a mission to his distant relative Raguel. Accompanied by the angel Raphael in disguise, he was able, arriving at his destination, to cure Raguel's daughter Sarah of a curse and claim her as his bride, along with half of Raguel's property. Upon the departure of Tobias and Sarah, Raguel blessed the couple, 'And Edna said to Tobias, "The Lord of Heaven bring you back safely, dear brother, and grant me to see your children by my daughter Sarah, that I may rejoice before the Lord. See, I am entrusting my daughter to you; do nothing to grieve her'" (Tobit 10:12).

The book of Tobit has an appeal that goes beyond pure religion. Tobias's peregrinations in the company of an angel made him a guardian for all travelers, especially young ones, and the miracles he performed had something homely and comforting to them. The book was mistrusted by the Calvinists, however, who included it in the official Dutch Bible translation of 1636 only grudgingly. In art, it is most often depicted by artists with connections to the Mennonite and Catholic communities, who were especially attached to the book. In the 1620s and '30s, when Rembrandt was working closely with dissident Protestants in Leiden and Amsterdam, he painted subjects from Tobit several times. He, his pupils and associates turned to Tobit more frequently than any other group of Dutch painters.

Aert de Gelder was Rembrandt's last pupil, coming from Dordrecht to work under him in the 1660s. He acquired and retained some of the most personal techniques of the late Rembrandt, continuing to put them into practice until well into the eighteenth century. One of these is what we might call the iconographical technique of painting biblical scenes in a semi-modern mode, with a heavy emphasis on emotion and expression, and as few attributes as possible.