Themes from the story of Tobias often occur in 17th-century Dutch painting, probably because of their moralizing content. The Berlin picture takes the account in Tobias (5, 22 ff), in which the young Tobias is sent out by his old, blind father to raise a loan. Unknown to Tobias, he is accompanied by the Archangel Raphael as a protector. A striking feature of the Berlin composition is that the viewer sees the biblical motif far off in the background, almost as an unimportant staffage within a spacious landscape, rich in colour and atmosphere, under a big sky. The painter was most concerned with the decoratively drawn, detailed depiction of a run-down and yet lively farmstead, and also a group of figures in the foreground. Peasants in ragged clothes are sleeping or chatting by a rotten tree. The Tobias theme is taken up again here in the hand over the closed eyes of the recumbent old man and in the items suggesting a journey on foot. Bloemaert, who was a highly influential master in Utrecht, returned to this theme more than once.| Prestel Museum Guides
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