Tobias and the Angel

Neri di Bicci, born in Florence in 1419 was the third and last in line of the thriving Bicci family workshop. Although in his early work his style was virtually indistinguishable from that of the workshop, by the late 1440's Neri began to achieve an autonomy of form which lead to a simple and clearly identifiable style.

The present composition of Tobias and the Angel is a typical example of Neri's work and is faithful in content to the tradition established by his father Bicci di Lorenzo (1373-1452) and grandfather Lorenzo di Bicci (circa 1350-1427). The subject, Tobias's adventures with his companion and guardian, the Archangel Raphael, is taken from the apocryphal Book of Tobit. Tobias, the son of a devout Jew in exile in Assyria in the 8th Century B.C. was sent by his merchant father Tobit, to collect a debt. Tobias looked for a travelling companion and met the Archangel Raphael who agreed to accompany him. While bathing in the river Tigris the Archangel instructed the boy to extract the heart, liver and gall from a fish as a cure to heal his father's blindness.

In Neri's two-dimensional and technically accomplished painting Raphael holds the young Tobias's hand and looks protectively down at him as they walk through a landscape reminiscent of the Tuscan hills on a summer's day. The young man's white dog (mentioned in the original text) follows them somewhat lazily. The winged Raphael (the wings are anachronistic, they are a later Christian convention that derived from the classical Roman image of the winged Victory) triumphantly carries a golden box which will contain the remedy while Tobias carries the dead fish. Both wear haloes and garments that evoke contemporary Florentine dress and are lavishly adorned with gold.

This composition is Florentine par excellence. Neri produced this work during the reign of Lorenzo the Magnificent, a golden age where liberal sponsorship of the arts and an encouragement of arts and letters were paramount. The artist adopted forms and a color palette reminiscent of extremely successful Florentine artists such as Fra Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico and Domenico Veneziano. Even the subject matter is Florentine. The story of Tobias was very popular in 15th Century Florence, where a confraternity of Saint Raphael flourished. Raphael was venerated as a protector of travellers and as a healer. The themes of filial piety, enterprise and charity were important for the merchant families of the city. The theme of the 'guardian angel' was widespread and the symbol of Tobias would often be used by a family to commemorate the travels of a son, in whose likeness Tobias would be depicted (in this painting both figures are blond). Victims of eye disease also donated votive paintings of the subject.

Indeed this votive painting could have been commissioned by a number of different patrons, Neri's paintings were keenly sought after throughout his career by the most varied clientele, representing every stratum of society. The decorative and deftly executed Tobias and the Angel illustrates Neri's capacity to satisfy contemporary beliefs, demands and tastes.

The provenance of the present lot is uncertain prior to its acquisition in 1911 by the American collector Dan Fellows Platt (1873-1938) who purchased it through his art advisor F. Mason Perkins, to whom Platt in return, served as financial advisor. Platt, a member of Princeton class of 1865, became an important collector of Italian art. Upon his death the Ferargil Galleries in New York valued his Estate on 6 May 1938 at $88,636. It included books, coins, decorative arts, and predominantly 14th-18th Century Italian Old Master drawings and Old Master paintings. Platt donated a vast collection of drawings and paintings to the Art Museum, Princeton University in 1937. Among them are the Mystic Crucifixion by Vecchietta, a Madonna and Child by Ugolino di Nerio and the large Madonna and Child by Domenico di Bartolo.