Madonna with the Fish

Around 1513 Raphael painted this for a chapel in Naples, and the choice of saints tells you what it was for. The young man being led toward the Virgin is Tobias, and the archangel beside him is Raphael himself, the same angel who guided Tobias to the river and back. The fish Tobias carries is the point of the whole story. Its gall was the medicine that cured his blind father, and the chapel this hung in was dedicated to healing the eyes. Kneeling on the other side is Saint Jerome, dressed as a cardinal with his lion, holding the Latin Bible he translated. The picture was made not long after the Book of Tobit was confirmed among the Church's canonical scriptures, which is why that small fish sits at the centre of everything.