A magical and magnificent naive depiction of the Archangel St Raphael and Tobias after Titian c.1600.

Saint Raphael the Archangel is accompanied by a young boy - Tobias. Tobias is carrying the fish, and Raphael walks with a staff with a gourd to his right. At the bottom of the painting you can see Tobit’s little Dog accompanying his son Tobias on his journey.

The boy, fish and the pilgrims gear all refer to Raphael’s role in the deuterocanonical ‘Liber Tobias’. Posing as a human, Raphael guides Tobias on his journey to Media to collect a debt for his Father ‘blind Tobit’. On his way Tobias has to gut a fish to preserve it, on his return Raphael instructs Tobias to rub the fish on his father’s eyes, which cures his blindness.

Raphael’s hair is usually depicted blonde, but here the use of Venetian Red, as in an image painted by ‘Strozzi’ in Venice, would more than likely also make this a Venetian work.

We can draw strong similarities between the 1540-1545 painting of The Archangel Raphael and Tobias by Titian, particularly the handling of the small dog and flowers in the foreground.

An enchanting entrancing work of art. Contemplative, serene and beautiful.