Tobias and the Angel
Altobello Melone·1521
Historical Context
Altobello Melone's Tobias and the Angel presents the beloved apocryphal narrative of a young man guided by the archangel Raphael in disguise, healing his blind father and finding a wife along the way. Melone, a Cremona-based painter who combined northern Italian influences with awareness of Leonardo's transformative effect on Lombard painting, brings his characteristic warm but somewhat archaic style to this popular narrative subject. The combination of a young traveler, a guiding angel, and the emblematic fish that provides the healing medicine creates one of the most charming narrative groupings in Renaissance devotional art.
Technical Analysis
The painting demonstrates the technical conventions and artistic vocabulary of the period, with attention to composition, color, and the rendering of form appropriate to the subject.
