Tobit, from Landscapes with biblical and mythological scenes.

item details

NameTobit, from Landscapes with biblical and mythological scenes.

ProductionHieronymus Cock; etcher; 1558; Flanders
Matthijs Cock; artist

Classificationprints, etchings, landscapes, works on paper

Materialsink, paper

Materials Summaryetching

Techniquesetching

DimensionsImage: 317mm (width), 227mm (height)

Registration Number1869-0001-92

Credit lineGift of Bishop Monrad, 1869

Overview

Hieronymus Cock, or Hieronymus Wellens de Cock (1518-1570) was a Southern Netherlandish painter and etcher as well as a publisher and distributor of prints. Cock was the most important print publisher of his time in northern Europe and played a key role in the transformation of printmaking from an activity of individual artists and craftsmen into an industry based on division of labour.

This etching is based on a drawing by Hieronymus Cock's brother Matthys. Hieronymus copied thirteen of Matthys's landscapes and published them in 1558 under the title Landscapes with Biblical and Mythological Scenes (the longer Dutch title is: Various sorts of landscapes with fine histories composed therein, from the Old and New Testaments, and several merry Poems, very convenient for painters and other connoisseurs of the arts). This scene emphasises the idyllic landscape but also depicts a story from the apocryphal book of Tobit. In the foreground we see the figures of Tobias, his dog and the passer-by who happens to an angel, and who will instruct him what to do with a giant fish he catches.

Te Papa has two other etchings from this series, which depict The Good Samaritan (1869-0001-91) and Mercury with the head of Argus (1869-0001-93).

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Cock

Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art February 2017