Rembrandt van Rijn

Leiden 1606 - Amsterdam 1669

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Blind Tobit, with the return of Tobias and the archangel Raphael, c. 1628-29

and GERRIT DOU

1613 Leiden 1675

Inscribed in monogram ‘RHL’ (upper left, on the staircase)
oil on canvas
108.5 x 143 cm

An early masterpiece by Rembrandt (Leiden 1606 – 1669 Amsterdam) will be exhibited for sale at Frieze Master’s, Regent’s Park, 11 – 15 October. Swiss dealer David Koetser (Koetser Gallery, Zurich, Stand E06) is bringing Rembrandt’s Blind Tobit with the Return of Tobias and the Archangel Raphael, c. 1628-29, to the fair. The painting was recently the focus of the exhibition Chasing Rembrandt in the Wadsworth Atheneum, one of America’s oldest museums, renowned for its European paintings. In a distinguished collection for almost fifty years, Blind Tobit is amongst the most-important, Leiden-period Rembrandts remaining in private hands. The painting is particularly interesting as it demonstrates the emergence of Rembrandt’s precocious pupil, Gerrit Dou (1613 – 1675), as Dou is understood to have assisted in Blind Tobit’s completion. This magnificent work, of considerable ambition and great emotion, is remarkably-well preserved (oil on canvas 108.5 x 143 cm), and Blind Tobit captures young Rembrandt at his highest quality.

ENQUIRIES

Provenance

Possibly Huig Pietersz Coedijck (1573 – 1640), Vroedschap van Leiden [Council of Leiden] (1608 – 1640), burgomaster there in 1626;

Later, Balthasar Coymans (1699 – 1759), heer van Deurne en Liessel, ‘Het Coymanshuis’ – Keizersgracht 177, Amsterdam, before 1759; (†) his sale, Doens a.o., Amsterdam, 19 March 1760, lot 4, as Isaac Jansz. Koedijck, where acquired by Van Diemen for Braamcamp;

Gerrit Braamcamp (1699 – 1771), ‘Het Trippenhuis’—Kloveniersburgwal 29, Amsterdam; (†) his sale, Van der Schley a.o., Amsterdam, 31 July 1771, lot 52, as Gerrit Dou, where acquired by Pieter Yver;

With Pieter Yver (1712 – 1787), Amsterdam, from whom acquired by John Greenwood (1727 – 1792) for Robert Ansell;

With Robert Ansell (c. 1732 – 1789), London; his sale, Christie’s, London, 6-8 February 1772, lot 57, as Gerrit Dou, where acquired by Levers;

Lords of Arundell, Wardour Castle, near Tisbury, Wiltshire, before 1814, and thence by descent;

Anne Lucy (1842 – 1934), Lady Arundell of Wardour Castle; (†), her sale, Christie’s, London, 12 July 1935, lot 64, as Gerrit Dou, where acquired by Asscher & Welker;

With Asscher & Welker, London, until November 1935, by which date sold or in consignment to Kunsthandel D. Katz, Dieren;

With Kunsthandel D. Katz, Dieren, by November 1935, as Rembrandt van Rijn;

Dr. C.J.K. van Aalst (1866 – 1939), Huis-te-Hoevelaken, Hoevelaken, within 1936; (†) his sale, Christie’s, London, 1 April 1960, lot 37, as Rembrandt van Rijn, where acquired by D.H. Cevat;

With Daniël Hendrik Cevat (1913 – 1990), London and later May Trees, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, from whom acquired by the present owner in February 1978;

Private Collection, United States, February 1978 – present.

Exhibition

Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum, Chasing Rembrandt, 20 April – 23 July 2023, as Rembrandt.

Leiden, De Lakenhal, and Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Jonge Rembrandt / Young Rembrandt, 2

November 2019 – 1 November 2020 (extended), no. 130, as Rembrandt, Gerrit Dou and Jan Lievens.

Aachen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, loan, November 2013 – November 2019, as Rembrandt and Dou.

Kassel, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, and Amsterdam, Rembrandthuis, The Mystery of the Young Rembrandt, 3 November 2001 – 26 May 2002, no. 67, as Circle of Gerard Dou, c. 1635 (lent as Rembrandt, 1629).

Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, November 1978 – June 1993, loan, as Rembrandt and / or Dou (?), and later Dou.

Leiden, Stedelijk Museum ‘De Lakenhal,’ Rondom Rembrandt: de verzameling Daan Cevat, 11 April – 16 June 1968, no. 34, as Rembrandt.

Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, 1961 – until at least 1969, loan, as Rembrandt.

Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, and Milan, Palazzo Reale, Mostra di Pittura Olandese del Seicento, 4 January – 25 April 1954, nos. 183 and no. 179, respectively, as Rembrandt and Dou.

Zürich, Kunsthaus, Holländer des 17. Jahrhunderts: 4. November bis 20. Dezember 1953, no. 127, as Rembrandt and Dou.