Tobia e l’angelo

This was painted in Florence around 1467, in the busy workshop of the Pollaiuolo brothers, and Piero is usually credited with the panel. The story comes from the Book of Tobit. A young man, Tobias, is sent on a journey to collect a debt and, without knowing it, travels under the protection of the archangel Raphael, who walks beside him as a companion. Tobias carries a fish he has caught, its organs a cure that will later heal his father's blindness, and a small white dog trots at their feet. This is thought to be the first of a whole run of Florentine pictures on the subject, and the details later ones copied are already here: the fluffy dog, the wide airy landscape, the boy dressed far too finely for a hike. Vasari saw it centuries ago on a pillar in the church of Orsanmichele in Florence.