Salvator Rosa, 'Landscape with Tobias and the Angel', probably 1660-73
About the work
Overview
The apocryphal Book of Tobit describes how Tobit, a blind old man, sent his son Tobias to the distant city of Media to collect a debt. The boy was accompanied by the Archangel Raphael, protector of travellers. In this painting, Tobias struggles with a fish that had tried to devour him, as Raphael informs him that its heart, liver and gall bladder could be used for medicine (these organs would later restore Tobit’s sight).
Salvator Rosa liked to build up dark, heavy forms in the foreground of his paintings; here, a cliff face rises up on the right, its lower half in a deep shadow that is interrupted by the gleam of a gushing waterfall. The figures are small within this dramatic landscape: Tobias, holding the fish, struggles against the current, watched by Raphael and a little dog. Above, a flight of birds leads our gaze from the rocky gorge to the open, mountainous landscape and menacing clouds beyond.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Landscape with Tobias and the Angel
- Artist
- Salvator Rosa
- Artist dates
- 1615 - 1673
- Date made
- probably 1660-73
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 147.4 × 224 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1959
- Inventory number
- NG6298
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1986Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1986
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.