The copperplate was in the sale by Clement De Jonghe (1679 as lot 68, biddende Tobias met zijn familie. It was sold to an unknown owner (c 1700), who added two dots. It was then in the sale by Pieter de Haan (1767, lot 11) and sold to Fouquet. It became part of the set of plates subsequently owned and used for printing Recueils by Pierre-François Basan, Henri-Louis Basan (his nr 1379), Auguste Jean (ca 1809), Veuve Jean, Auguste and Michel Bernard (1846), Alvin-Beaumont (1906) and Robert Lee Humber (1937). It was sold at the Artemis sale in London (1993) and is now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Tobit, chapter 12: 16-21
Rembrandt was fascinated by the story of Tobit, of which he made no less than twenty drawings, five paintings and three etchings. Tobit turned blind and lives in poverty. Eventually he sends his son Tobias on a trip to Medea to collect an old outstanding debt. His dog and the Archangel Raphael accompany him on this journey. At one point the angel advises him to catch a fish and to keep the intestines. On his way the son marries Sarah, a distant relative, despite the fact that her first seven husbands did not survive the wedding night. By burning the intestines Tobias succeeds in conquering the curse, staying alive. When he returns home he uses the remaining intestines to cure Tobit from his blindness. Only when father and son offer Raphael half of the treasures acquired by Tobias, he identifies himself and leaves.

In the etching we see Tobit thanking the Lord in a prayer. In the right lower corner we see the coffer with the valuable items that were offered to Raphael and the donkey. They may have been part of Sarah’s caravan. We also see five servants, in various states of disbelief.

The dog is the same type as seen in several other etchings and paintings, like in the painting of 1637. The dog seems to be uninterested in the scene itself and literally shows its rear end.

Instead, the donkey in the right corner, still recovering from a long trip, is watching the departure of his travel-companion

Rembrandt made a painting of the same subject in 1637 (Corpus A121, Bredius 503, now in the Louvre) in which the servants are not seen. In this painting the Angel is a direct copy of a woodcut after Maarten van Heemskerck (H188, ca. 1548). The key-players are present in a painting by Lastman (now in Stockholm), in a preparatory study for it (in the Rembrandthuis) and in an etching by Moeyaert (Hollstein 20).

Two more drawings of the same subject are probably copies after a lost original drawing. The one in the Rijksmuseum (Benesch 492) was long considered to be the original. The second copy (Rhode Island School of Design, Providence) has a pendant right side showing the fleeing Raphael.

Rembrandt’s pupil Ferdinand Bol made a copy of the painting in 1637-38 (now in the collection of Nathan Saban). after Maarten van Heemskerck (H188, ca. 1548).

There are two copies in reverse. Copy A is signed by Johann Georg Hertel, inscribed Rembrandt del. (his nr. 282, 97 x 156 mm, WB 2).
Copy B is anonymous, signed Rembrandt f. 1641 (2 states, 100 x 151 mm, WB 1).

Wilson thinks this plate is “designed with taste and very well executed”.

The New Hollstein lists nine states of which only the first two contemporary. Most other authors list four states, Biörklund six, Nowell-Usticke one trial proof and seven states. From his 4^th state the impressions are by Watelet, P.Basan, Basan, Jean, Bernard and Beaumont.
In the 1st state (NH, WB/NU trial proof A) the back of Tobit’s head is bald. The space enclosed by his beard and hand is white. The area above Tobias’ head is shaded with open lines.
In the 2^nd state (NH, WB, R144-145/1^st state NU) Tobit’s head is shaded. Diagonal lines are added in the white space below his beard. There is fine cross-hatching above Tobias’s head, around the tray and on the foliage on the right side of the door.
In the 3^rd state (NH) two dots are added in the upper right corner. Not by Rembrandt. Not traced.
In the 4^th state (NH/2^nd state NU) several shadows are reworked with the rocker, like on and around the chest in the lower right corner, in the door opening and on Tobit’s back. There is close horizontal shading added on the hinge of the open box, the hatching of the earlier state already worn out.
In the 5^th state (NH/3^rd state WB, R146, NU) the outlines of the upper edge is made more regular with diagonal hatching in the top left-hand corner.
In the 6^th state (NH) many shadows are strengthened with the drypoint, like in the upper right corner, on the angel’s body, on and above his left foot and in several other places.
In the 7^th state (NH/4^th state WB final, R147, NU Watelet) there is further shading in several places. Irregular lines of right-left shading on and near the body of the angel. Regular right-left lines on the upper part of the triangle in the lower left corner, blank in earlier states. Right of the signature a text is inscribed ‘Restauré par Watelet 17—‘,
In the 8^th state (NH/5^th state NU P.Basan) the inscription is erased again, as are some of the original shading lines in the foreground° and other fine lines from earlier rework.
In the 9^th state (NH/6^th state NU Bernard) the hat of the person behind Tobias is now filled in with new lines°.  According to NU the plate is rebitten, not mentioned by NH.
In the 7^th state (NU Bernard, Beaumont) the plate has been cleaned up and reworked by a finer hand, but has much improved in appearance.
 

Of the 1st state only three impressions are known, in the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, UK), in the Bibliothèque Nationale and in the collection of Robert C.Engel (California). There was a 4th copy in the Ritman Collection in 1995, probably now in Basel.
Of the 2nd state there are counterproofs in the British Museum and in the Alte Pinakothek. There are impressions of the 2nd state marked P.Mariette 1670 and 1674 (in the Pierpont Morgan Library resp. the Victoria and Albert Museum, proving the later states to be posthumous.
The etching appears in the Recueil de Basan, in the first edition unchanged, but heavily reworked in later editions, impressions good (NU).

In the 1st state: Basilisk (c. 1640-47).
In the 2nd state: Basilisk (c. 1640-47); Strasbourg lily with cm EK (c. 1652); Basel crosier; Foolscap.
In the 5th state: Arms of Colbert.
In the 8th state: Strasbourg lily.
Since both the 1st and 2nd state have impressions with the Basilisk watermark they probably were printed within a short period of time. On the basis of other watermarks Hinterding confirms the earlier conclusion by Seidlitz that the corrections in the 4th state are not by Rembrandt.

H 185, BB 41-G, G 42, M 213, Mz 179, RA 144-148, Cl 47, W 48, Bl 16, Du 46, CD 141.
Tümpel 1970, p. 34; O.H.Barnard in Print Collector’s Quarterly 1934 (xxi), p. 93; Tümpel 2006, p. 46-47; Rembrandt’s engel 2006, p. 151; Hinterding 2008, p. 98ff; Dat kan beter! 2013, p. 48-49; Rosenberg 2017, p. 136; Bol and Dickey 2017, p. 16;

New Hollstein: 2nd state of IX/White-Boon: 2nd state of IV
The print was offered as a 3rd state of IV (WB) in which case it is a 4th or higher state NH and not contemporary. But it is probably a 2nd state (WB/NHD). The two dots in the upper right corner are not visible, neither are the rocker lines on the chest and in the door opening.
Sheet 105 x 158 mm, margins of approx. 2 mm all around (+5%).
No watermark, horizontal chain lines at approx. 23 mm.

Rembrandt in Zwart-Wit, Museum Gouda, July – October 2014;
Rembrandt in Black & White, Schloß Britz (Berlin), Chateau des Penthes (Geneva), November 2015 – October 2016;
Rembrandt, de fotograaf, Westfries Museum (Hoorn), June 2024 – January 2025;