Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/597

 CAREL FABR1TIUS 573 CATALOGUE RAISONNE 1. TOBIAS AND HIS WIFE. In an open place overgrown with vine in front of their house, Tobias and his wife are seated on a bench by the sunlit wall, in the centre of the picture. Tobias, wearing a large cloak, rests his feet on a stool and folds his hands in prayer ; he turns his head away from his wife who sits beside him to the left. The woman, who wears a dark cap and holds a reel, turns three-quarters right and appears to be arguing with her blind husband, to convince him of her innocence in regard to the kid which stands farther back to the left under a hedge. Above the hedge is seen a landscape with a building to the right. Tobias's dog sleeps at his feet. His stick stands against the wall near the door. The picture was one of the artist's last works. It was long regarded as a Rembrandt, and was etched as such by G. F. Schmidt, !773- Canvas on panel, 25! inches by 28 inches. Described by Sm., from the etching, as Rembrandt, No. 48. Sale. Gerard van Oostrum, The Hague, September 23, 1765 (Terwesten, 489), No. 1 8 (50 florins) ; as by Johannes Fabritius. In the collection of the director Cesar, Berlin, 1773. Sale. (Probably) J. C. Werther, Amsterdam, April 25, 1792, No. 212 ; measuring 18 inches by 22 inches. In the collection of G. von Prohaska, Vienna, 1820. In the collection of J. Tschager, Vienna. Now in the Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, Tschager bequest, No. 600. 2. The Beheading of John the Baptist. The figures are three- quarters length. In the centre of the picture, behind the nude corpse of John, which is strongly foreshortened, stands the executioner. He holds in his left hand a dish with the severed head, and in his right hand the sword. He wears a shirt, open at the throat, and with the sleeves turned up. A bristly beard surrounds his red face. His head is wrapped round with a white cloth. He turns slightly to the right, towards Salome, who stands beside him facing to the left in profile. Salome wears a dark green costume over a white under-garment with broad sleeves, and a plumed hat. Behind her to the left the heads of a man and a woman are seen in front of a stone pilaster. Behind the executioner to the left is an old woman. The attribution to C. Fabritius is very uncertain. It was formerly called a Rembrandt, and described as such by Sm. (Rembrandt, 120) after the engraving by Claessens. For a time Willem Drost was thought to be the painter. Canvas, 59^ inches by 48 inches. Described by Havard (iv. 61), and by W. Burger, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1865, p. 82. Stilts. (Probably) Amsterdam, May 16, 1696 (Hoet, i. 37), No. 76 (20 florins). P. Fouquet, Amsterdam, April 13, 1801 (775 florins).