Tobit and Anna with the Kid

Signed and dated 1626, this oil painting on panel was created by Rembrandt at the age of twenty. The work's documented ownership begins with its inclusion in the sale catalogue of Pieter van Buytene's collection in Delft on October 29, 1748. It was subsequently purchased by Yver at an anonymous Amsterdam auction in April 1759.

By the early twentieth century, the painting belonged to Dmitry Shchukin in Moscow, where it remained until 1913. In 1917, the Amsterdam dealer E. J. Goudstikker sold the piece to Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, whose family retained it across various locations until 1979. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam acquired the painting that same year.

The painting is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, having been acquired by the institution in 1979. Prior to this acquisition, the work belonged to the Thyssen-Bornemisza family collection from 1956 until its transfer to the Dutch national museum.

The artwork's exhibition and ownership history traces back to 1748, when it was recorded in the catalogue of Pieter van Buytene's collection in Delft. It was subsequently purchased at an anonymous sale in Amsterdam in April 1759 by a buyer identified as Yver. In the early twentieth century, the painting entered the Moscow collection of Dmitry Shchukin, where it remained until 1913.

Following Shchukin's ownership, the art dealer E. J. Goudstikker sold the piece in 1917, leading to its eventual residence with Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza at locations including Schloss Rohoncz and Villa Favorita before the 1979 Rijksmuseum acquisition.

The painting, signed and dated 1626, is regarded by art historian Gary Schwartz as Rembrandt's 'first truly accomplished painting'. Michael Kitson notes it as an early and excellent example of the artist's lifelong fascination with elderly figures. Scholars have traced its visual sources to an engraving by Jan van de Velde after Willem Buytewech and to Willem van Swanenburg's print of a penitent Saint Peter after Abraham Bloemaert, which informed Tobit's figure.

Situated within Rembrandt's Leiden period, the work reflects the influence of his teacher Pieter Lastman, who treated other Tobit episodes, and foreshadows Rembrandt's later depictions of the Angel Raphael's departure. As an early Dutch Golden Age painting of a deuterocanonical subject, it illustrates the period's interest in biblical narratives and Rembrandt's emerging mastery of colour, emotion, and storytelling.

Rembrandt’s early oil on canvas, dated and signed 1626, portrays an elderly couple in a modest interior. The work, now part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection in Amsterdam, captures a moment of domestic dispute with restrained composition and muted lighting, characteristic of the artist’s formative period.

The scene derives from the biblical Book of Tobit, where the blind Tobit confronts his wife Anna over the disappearance of a goat. The painting isolates this brief exchange, emphasizing the tension between accusation and helplessness, and reflecting themes of trust, loss, and moral testing within a household.