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Lot Essay
Until 1965 this picture was thought to be by Cavallino. Anne Percy has since then argued that it is not an autograph work but a close variant of the Kassel picture (for which, see below), possibly by a workshop hand.
Scenes from the Book of Tobit appear to have been important for Cavallino, with several paintings of the story by the artist noted by De Dominici (Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, 1745, Naples, Appendix). Of the surviving Tobit pictures traditionally given to Cavallino, however, Percy considers the painting in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel to be the only autograph work, the others being workshop copies and versions executed by followers. Of the majority of these she writes that they 'depict stocky, thick-limbed figures that are far from his usual slender proportions and that lead us to suspect that we are concerned with a still-nameless contemporary imitator or follower' (Percy, 1984, op. cit., p. 97). The present picture, by contrast, she classifies, with two others (The Marriage of Tobias; Norfolk, Virginia, Chrysler Museum; and The Curing of Tobit; Naples, Rebuffat collection) as appearing 'to be copies of original representations of Tobit scenes by Cavallino himself', noting that the present picture 'appears to be a copy of a close variant of the Kassel picture, with the figures slightly differently arranged' (ibid.).
The stories of Tobit are found in the Apocrypha. This scene shows the moment towards the end of Tobit's life when his sight is restored. He was a devout man living in Nineveh who rebelled against the oppression of the Jews and amongst other pious deeds he was renowned for giving his compatriots a proper burial. While resting outside one day a 'whiteness' overcame his eyes caused by sparrow's droppings. He remained blind until many years later his son Tobias, guided by the Archangel Raphael, cured his eyes by wiping them with the gall from a fish that had also been used to save Tobias's wife from an evil spirit. The theme was a popular one amongst those inflicted with cataracts and sufferers would commission this subject in the hope of regaining their sight.
Scenes from the Book of Tobit appear to have been important for Cavallino, with several paintings of the story by the artist noted by De Dominici (Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, 1745, Naples, Appendix). Of the surviving Tobit pictures traditionally given to Cavallino, however, Percy considers the painting in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel to be the only autograph work, the others being workshop copies and versions executed by followers. Of the majority of these she writes that they 'depict stocky, thick-limbed figures that are far from his usual slender proportions and that lead us to suspect that we are concerned with a still-nameless contemporary imitator or follower' (Percy, 1984, op. cit., p. 97). The present picture, by contrast, she classifies, with two others (The Marriage of Tobias; Norfolk, Virginia, Chrysler Museum; and The Curing of Tobit; Naples, Rebuffat collection) as appearing 'to be copies of original representations of Tobit scenes by Cavallino himself', noting that the present picture 'appears to be a copy of a close variant of the Kassel picture, with the figures slightly differently arranged' (ibid.).
The stories of Tobit are found in the Apocrypha. This scene shows the moment towards the end of Tobit's life when his sight is restored. He was a devout man living in Nineveh who rebelled against the oppression of the Jews and amongst other pious deeds he was renowned for giving his compatriots a proper burial. While resting outside one day a 'whiteness' overcame his eyes caused by sparrow's droppings. He remained blind until many years later his son Tobias, guided by the Archangel Raphael, cured his eyes by wiping them with the gall from a fish that had also been used to save Tobias's wife from an evil spirit. The theme was a popular one amongst those inflicted with cataracts and sufferers would commission this subject in the hope of regaining their sight.