View source for Tobias and the Angel (Filippino Lippi)

{{Short description|Painting by Filippino Lippi}}
{{Infobox Artwork
| image_file=Tobias and the Angel - Filippino Lippi.jpg
| title=Tobias and the Angel
| artist=[[Filippino Lippi]]
| year=c. 1475–1480
| type=Oil and tempera on panel
| height_metric=32.7
| width_metric=23.5
| metric_unit=cm
| imperial_unit=in
| museum=National Gallery of Art
| city=Washington
}}

'''''Tobias and the Angel''''' is an oil and [[tempera]] painting on [[populus|poplar]] panel by the [[Republic of Florence|Florentine]] [[Renaissance]] painter [[Filippino Lippi]], dating from c. 1475–1480, of [[Tobias and the Angel]], a popular subject at the time. It is now in the [[National Gallery of Art]] in [[Washington, DC]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lipp/hd_lipp.htm|title=Filippino Lippi (ca. 1457–1504)|publisher=www.metmuseum.org|accessdate=9 December 2015}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.370.html Filippino Lippi, ''Tobias and the Angel'', c. 1475/1480], National Gallery of Art</ref><ref>[https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/wd/ZQEE9eOgZE1ysw ''Tobias and the Angel''], Filippino Lippi, Google Arts & Culture</ref>

==Description==
The work, in [[oil paint]] and [[tempera]] on a [[populus|poplar]] panel, measures {{cvt|32.7|x|23.5|cm|in}}.  It depicts a biblical scene of Tobias and Raphael.  In the [[Book of Tobit]], Tobias, son of the blinded Tobit, was sent from [[Nineveh]] to [[Ecbatana]] to collect a debt. The archangel [[Raphael (archangel)|Raphael]], disguised as the human [[Azariah]], was sent to accompany Tobias on his errand.  On the journey, the angel will advise Tobias to catch a fish from the [[River Tigris]] and then to create remedy for his father's blindness using the fish's gall.  

The two main figures are depicted walking through a landscape, accompanied by a white dog, with trees and a river, and a tall tower to the right.  They are arm in arm, their blond heads inclined towards each other, with their slightly unstable posture indicating they are walking.  The winged Raphael in a blue gown and Tobias in a blue tunic with red cloak.  The boy holds the fish in his left hand, and the angel holds a small golden mortar to make the remedy in his right hand.   

The subject of [[Tobias and the Angel]] was popular with the wealthy merchants of Renaissance Florence, combining themes of the recovery of debts, the healing of the sick, a youth taking good advice from his elders and developing into adulthood, and Christ (the fish) and baptism (the waters of the Tigris).  It also had resonances with the common experience of merchants' sons being sent on trading missions to distant locations.

==History==
Trained initially by his father [[Filippo Lippi]], after his father's death Filippino Lippi became a pupil of [[Sandro Botticelli]] in 1472.  This painting is an early work, with a similar composition to earlier works by [[Antonio del Pollaiuolo]] and [[Andrea del Verrocchio]].  A later painting by Filippino Lippi, his c. 1485 ''[[Three Angels and Young Tobias]]'', in the [[Galleria Sabauda]] in Turin, depicts a similar scene, with Tobias accompanied by the archangels Raphael, [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]], and [[Gabriel (archangel)|Gabriel]].

The early history of the painting is not known.  It was sold from the collection of [[Alexander Barker]] in 1879, and passed through the collections of [[William Cornwallis-West]], and [[Robert Henry Benson]].  The Benson Collection was sold to [[Duveen Brothers]] in 1927, and the painting was acquired by the [[Samuel H. Kress]] Foundation in 1936.  It was donated to the [[National Gallery of Art]] of [[Washington, DC]] in 1939 and where it is held as part of the gallery's Samuel H. Kress Collection.

<gallery>
File:Antonio del Pollaiolo - Tobias and the Angel - WGA18047.jpg|''[[Tobias and the Angel (Pollaiuolo)|Tobias and the Angel]]'', Antonio del Pollaiuolo, c.&nbsp;1465–1470
File:Workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. Tobias and the Angel. 33x26cm. 1470-75. NG London.jpg|''[[Tobias and the Angel (Verrocchio)|Tobias and the Angel]]'', Andrea del Verrocchio, c.&nbsp;1470–1475
File:Arcangeli Tobia Filippino Lippi.jpg|''[[Three Angels and Young Tobias]]'', Filippino Lippi, c.&nbsp;1485
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://italianrenaissanceresources.com/units/unit-6/essays/moving-pictures/ Italian Renaissance, moving pictures]

{{Filippino Lippi}}

[[Category:1470s paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings by Filippino Lippi]]
[[Category:Paintings in the National Gallery of Art]]
[[Category:Paintings of Tobias]]
[[Category:Paintings of Raphael (archangel)]]
[[Category:Nineveh]]
[[Category:Paintings of dogs]]