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Lot Essay
This beautiful depiction of Tobias and the Archangel Raphael belongs to a small, coherent group of large-scale biblical and mythological scenes painted by Cesare Dandini in the mid- to late 1630s. The other principal works in this vein are Rinaldo Impeding the Suicide of Armida (Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi) and Moses Defending the Daughters of Jethro at the Well of Midian (fig. 1; Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland; see S. Bellesi, Cesare Dandini, Turin, 1996, pp. 85-87, 98-99, cat. nos. 34, 45).
Like those canvases, the present painting exemplifies the refined elegance that Filippo Baldinucci described in his Notizie as Dandini’s maniera vaga: graceful, classicizing figures articulated in poised, almost theatrical gestures, and enlivened by a sumptuous palette of ochre, scarlet, azure, and gray. This aesthetic represents the culmination of a Florentine current initiated in the 1590s by Jacopo da Empoli and Francesco Curradi, and developed in the following decades by Giovanni Bilivert and Cristofano Allori—artists whose influence is evident here, as in Bilivert’s treatment of the same subject in the Church of the Certosa del Galluzzo, Florence (see G. Cantelli, Repertorio della Pittura Fiorentina del Seicento, Florence, 1983, cat. no. 521).
The subject derives from the Book of Tobit, an Old Testament narrative that enjoyed particular favor in Counter-Reformation Italy. According to the biblical account, the pious Tobit of Nineveh, having been struck blind, sends his son Tobias to collect a debt in a distant land. The young man sets out accompanied by a stranger who offers to guide him on the perilous journey—unbeknownst to Tobias, the Archangel Raphael in disguise. Along the way, Raphael instructs the youth to catch a large fish from the Tigris and preserve its heart, liver, and gall, which will later prove instrumental: the organs are used to exorcise a demon and, upon their return, to restore Tobit's sight. The journey thus becomes an allegory of divine providence, with the angel serving as both protector and healer. Dandini depicts the most commonly represented moment in the narrative—Tobias walking beside his celestial guardian, the miraculous fish in hand—a composition that allowed artists to explore the dynamic interplay between mortal youth and heavenly messenger, and one that held obvious appeal as an image of safe passage and filial devotion.
The high esteem afforded to these grand Baroque narratives is underscored by Carlo de’ Medici’s commission, in the mid-1630s, of a cycle of biblical and mythological scenes for the ground floor of the Casino di San Marco. Among the pictures produced for this celebrated ensemble was Dandini’s aforementioned Rinaldo Impeding the Suicide of Armida, confirming the stylistic proximity of the present canvas to the artist’s most important ducal undertakings.
Like those canvases, the present painting exemplifies the refined elegance that Filippo Baldinucci described in his Notizie as Dandini’s maniera vaga: graceful, classicizing figures articulated in poised, almost theatrical gestures, and enlivened by a sumptuous palette of ochre, scarlet, azure, and gray. This aesthetic represents the culmination of a Florentine current initiated in the 1590s by Jacopo da Empoli and Francesco Curradi, and developed in the following decades by Giovanni Bilivert and Cristofano Allori—artists whose influence is evident here, as in Bilivert’s treatment of the same subject in the Church of the Certosa del Galluzzo, Florence (see G. Cantelli, Repertorio della Pittura Fiorentina del Seicento, Florence, 1983, cat. no. 521).
The subject derives from the Book of Tobit, an Old Testament narrative that enjoyed particular favor in Counter-Reformation Italy. According to the biblical account, the pious Tobit of Nineveh, having been struck blind, sends his son Tobias to collect a debt in a distant land. The young man sets out accompanied by a stranger who offers to guide him on the perilous journey—unbeknownst to Tobias, the Archangel Raphael in disguise. Along the way, Raphael instructs the youth to catch a large fish from the Tigris and preserve its heart, liver, and gall, which will later prove instrumental: the organs are used to exorcise a demon and, upon their return, to restore Tobit's sight. The journey thus becomes an allegory of divine providence, with the angel serving as both protector and healer. Dandini depicts the most commonly represented moment in the narrative—Tobias walking beside his celestial guardian, the miraculous fish in hand—a composition that allowed artists to explore the dynamic interplay between mortal youth and heavenly messenger, and one that held obvious appeal as an image of safe passage and filial devotion.
The high esteem afforded to these grand Baroque narratives is underscored by Carlo de’ Medici’s commission, in the mid-1630s, of a cycle of biblical and mythological scenes for the ground floor of the Casino di San Marco. Among the pictures produced for this celebrated ensemble was Dandini’s aforementioned Rinaldo Impeding the Suicide of Armida, confirming the stylistic proximity of the present canvas to the artist’s most important ducal undertakings.