Engraving. 25.,4 x 25.8 cm
Bartsch and Hollstein 2; Andrews  25, Engravings (a)
Watermark: Strasbourg bend below fleur de lis


Superb early impression of matchless beauty.

Brilliantly printed in a deep velvety, black, allowing the dense parallel lines to produce the most effective possible chiaroscuro effects of the kind that are so characteristic of mezzotint technique, which was however originated only thirty years later. At the same featuring an exquisite transparency and clarity, allowing both the internal modeling and contours to remain visible in a nuanced way, even in the densest shadowed areas of the small grove in the middle ground.

Still with the slightly scratched guide lines for the calligraphic verses along the lower margin, where fine wipe marks are also noticeable.

With tiny margins beyond the image in places, and with the entire texted area below . Pristine.


The principal sheet among Goud’s seven engravings produced after designs by Elsheimer. According to C. S. Ackley, Goudt can be regarded as one of the most influential printmakers of the Dutch seventeenth century…the pivotal figure in the quest for dark tonalities in seventeenth-century Dutch printmaking.


Goud was in the possession of Elsheimer’s painting, which was well-known under the title The Large Tobias, when he transferred the splendid composition onto a copperplate in 1613. Together with other works by Elsheimer, he brought it from Rome to Utrecht in 1610 after his friend had passed away. The original has been lost since 1673. Copies are found in the  Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen and the National Gallery in London.

This…is the latest dated piece and also the most developed. The four centuries of engraver’s art can have produced few things more unforgettable than these figures stalking mysteriously through a fantastic world. (H. S. Reitlinger)