Large oil painting on canvas by Marco Benefial (Rome 1684-1764) depicting "Tobias and the angel".

Oil on canvas, 120 x 165 cm. In excellent condition.

Period: mid-eighteenth century



The painting represents a famous biblical episode; Tobias becomes blind due to an accident and sends his son Tobias to the Media region to collect a debt.

As soon as Tobiolo sets off, he is approached by a mysterious traveler who claims to be familiar with Media and is willing to accompany him. He introduces himself as Azariah, son of Ananias. The young man certainly does not imagine which celestial character is hidden under the traveller's guise, even if he immediately demonstrates superhuman wisdom by advising his protégé to conserve the gall of a fish he caught in the great Tigris river, for the therapeutic virtues it possesses : once he returns to Nineveh and using the gall of the fish he will be able to make his father regain his sight. The Archangel who accompanies Tobias is identified as Raphael.

In this canvas, the superhuman beauty of the archangel before whom Tobiolo appears lost stands out in particular. Raphael orders with a peremptory gesture of his right hand to retrieve the large fish swimming towards the shore; Even Tobiolo's dog appears frightened and takes refuge between his owner's legs. The scene is set in a beautiful central Italian landscape with a group of plants on the right, green hills and a spring sky covered in white, foamy clouds. The colors are bright and vibrant, the archangel wears light pink-white robes which highlight his otherworldly beauty while Tobiolo dresses in a dress of an intense shade of blue on which a white band stands out.

Expertise by Dr. Cav. Arabella Cifani, Art Historian, Art Expert of the Court of Turin, Registered in the Register of Experts and Experts of the Turin Chamber of Commerce.

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