Tobit burying the Dead

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto)

ca. 1647–51 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

In the late 1630s, Castiglione began to study Rembrandt’s etchings. He is the first artist in Italy known to have borrowed directly from the Dutch master. Castiglione most likely learned about him from the Flemish artist-dealers Lucas and Cornelis de Wael, who were also active in Genoa. He was particularly drawn to Rembrandt’s night scenes, his use of single sources of light, and his tone and murky shadows that envelop scenes through incredible webs of etched lines. Although this work is not one of the scenes from the book of Tobit illustrated by Rembrandt, Castiglione chose to focus on Tobit’s righteous attempt to bury dead Israelites, in defiance of the Assyrian king, providing the perfect framework for depicting a covert act undertaken by the cover of night.

Artist

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto)

Date

ca. 1647–51

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Bertina Suida Manning and Robert L. Manning, 1980