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Tobie et l'Ange
Details
NICOLAS COLOMBEL (SOTTEVILLE 1644-1717 PARIS)
Tobie et l'Ange
huile sur toile
90,5 x 118,7 cm (35 2⁄3 x 46 ¾ in.)
Tobie et l'Ange
huile sur toile
90,5 x 118,7 cm (35 2⁄3 x 46 ¾ in.)
Provenance
Collection particulière, Espagne.
Further Details
NICOLAS COLOMBEL (1644-1717), TOBIAS AND THE ANGEL, OIL ON CANVAS
This previously unpublished painting by the Norman artist Nicolas Colombel (1644–1717) represents a significant rediscovery within his oeuvre. The subject is drawn from the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament. Despite the popularity of this theme among artists down the centuries, this painting is one of the rare works by Colombel where he depicts a subject that had not previously been treated by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), whose work profoundly influenced that of the Norman painter, even before his arrival in Rome around 1670. (For a discussion of the artist’s career, see K. Chastagnol, ‘Nicolas Colombel, peintre normand entre Rome et Paris,’ in Nicolas Colombel, [exh. cat.], Mayenne, 2012, pp. 64–116.)
In the story, Tobit sends his son Tobias to recover a debt. He is accompanied on his journey by a stranger, who proves to be the Archangel Raphael. One day, along the banks of the Tigris, a large fish leaps out of the water. Raphael exclaims, 'Catch the fish, and do not let it go!' (Tobit 6:3). He explains to Tobias that he can cure his father’s blindness by using the fish’s organs. Colombel makes use of this moment of surprise to infuse his composition with drama: the dog snarls, Tobias recoils in fear, while Raphael urges him to throw himself upon the monstrous fish.
Stylistically, the painting can be compared with Moses Defending the Daughters of Jethro, now in the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University (inv. 1980.43), and with Christ Healing the Blind of Jericho (fig. 1, Saint Louis Art Museum, inv. 12:1957). The latter was painted in Rome in 1682 and subsequently sent to Paris; we can therefore tentatively propose a date of execution in the first half of the 1680s for Tobias and the Angel, during the artist’s Roman period.
This previously unpublished painting by the Norman artist Nicolas Colombel (1644–1717) represents a significant rediscovery within his oeuvre. The subject is drawn from the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament. Despite the popularity of this theme among artists down the centuries, this painting is one of the rare works by Colombel where he depicts a subject that had not previously been treated by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), whose work profoundly influenced that of the Norman painter, even before his arrival in Rome around 1670. (For a discussion of the artist’s career, see K. Chastagnol, ‘Nicolas Colombel, peintre normand entre Rome et Paris,’ in Nicolas Colombel, [exh. cat.], Mayenne, 2012, pp. 64–116.)
In the story, Tobit sends his son Tobias to recover a debt. He is accompanied on his journey by a stranger, who proves to be the Archangel Raphael. One day, along the banks of the Tigris, a large fish leaps out of the water. Raphael exclaims, 'Catch the fish, and do not let it go!' (Tobit 6:3). He explains to Tobias that he can cure his father’s blindness by using the fish’s organs. Colombel makes use of this moment of surprise to infuse his composition with drama: the dog snarls, Tobias recoils in fear, while Raphael urges him to throw himself upon the monstrous fish.
Stylistically, the painting can be compared with Moses Defending the Daughters of Jethro, now in the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University (inv. 1980.43), and with Christ Healing the Blind of Jericho (fig. 1, Saint Louis Art Museum, inv. 12:1957). The latter was painted in Rome in 1682 and subsequently sent to Paris; we can therefore tentatively propose a date of execution in the first half of the 1680s for Tobias and the Angel, during the artist’s Roman period.
榮譽呈獻
Olivia Ghosh
Specialist