The Archangel Raphael and Tobias

Neri di Bicci's Archangel Raphael and Tobias, painted around 1463 and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, depicts the popular biblical narrative of the young Tobias guided on his journey by the archangel Raphael in disguise. Neri di Bicci, who inherited his family workshop in Florence and kept a detailed diary of his commissions, was one of the most prolific painters of fifteenth-century Florence, producing devotional works for clients across Tuscany.

Neri di Bicci's reliable, competent workshop style features clearly defined figures, bright coloring, and the standardized compositional formulas that allowed his workshop to meet the enormous demand for devotional imagery.