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Tobias and the Angel

Jean Charles Cazin

1878

oil

canvas

From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago

Impressionism Post-Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century Religious

Dominant colour

About this work

A boy and an angel walk down a dirt path at dusk. The boy carries a fish; the angel holds a staff. Behind them, a small dog trots along. This is the biblical story of Tobias, who caught a fish that later healed his father’s blindness. Cazin painted it in soft, smoky tones—no bright colors, just quiet light. The angel’s wings blend into the evening sky, almost invisible. To see how light shapes mood like this, look up *chiaroscuro*.

The story of this work

Provenance

Henry Field (died 1890), Chicago; his widow Mrs. Florence Lathrop Field; given to the Art Institute, 1894.

Exhibition history

Southampton, New York, Parrish Art Museum, In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition, June 29–September 1, 1986, no. 11; New York, National Academy of Design, September 18–December 7, 1986. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Dream, a World’s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893–1993, November 1, 1993–January 9, 1994, no cat. no.

Publication history

“Drift of the Dog Days,” The Collector 4, 16 (1893), p. 247. Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of Paintings, Sculpture, and Other Objects in the Museum (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1894), p. 55, no. 4 “The Henry Field Memorial Collection,” Art Amateur 31, 6 (1894), p. 115. Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year Ending June 4, 1895 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1895), p. 36, no. 4. Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of Objects in the Museum (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1895), p. 63, no. 4. Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of Objects in…

Read the full account in the museum source.