Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530)
L’Arcangelo Raffaele con Tobia, San Leonardo e il donatore (The Archangel Raphael with Tobias, St. Leonard and the Donor, Leonardo di Lorenzo Morelli)
1512
Oil on panel, 178 x 153 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Raphael accompanied young Tobias on a journey. One day they take a rest on a riverbank. Suddenly an enormous fish (here just a tiny attribute) emerges from the waves. Raphael advises catching it and preserving its innards. The fish’s gall will be used later by Tobias to heal his father’s eye complaint. The folkloristic theme reached its zenith in the economically prospering Florence of the 15th century. (KHM)
Provenance:
Foundation of the silk merchant Leonardo di Lorenzo Morelli for the family chapel in S. Lucia in Settimello near Florence; shortly before 1634 as a gift from the Morelli family to the Medici; 1637, 1663 inv. of the Palazzo Pitti Gallery; 1695 inv. of Poggio Imperiale; 1783 in the Tribuna in the Uffizi, Florence; 1792 by exchange from Florence to Vienna.