BRUEGHEL, Jan the Elder
(b. ca. 1568, Brussel, d. 1625, Antwerpen)

Landscape with the Young Tobias

1598
Oil on copper, 36 x 55 cm
Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna

This painting shows a merry company in an imaginary setting. In its crowded midst, the religious scene at bottom right can scarcely be seen: Tobias, on the advice of his companion, the Archangel Raphael, pulls a fish out of the water. He will use its gall to cure his father's blindness. The real subject, however, is the meticulously painted landscape.