Tobit and the Archangel Raphael
First third of the XVII century. White lead, Squared-up, Pencil ground, Brush on laid paper.Not on display
The drawing displays a traditional iconography taken from the Old Testament (Book of Tobit, 5–6). It depicts the archangel with a type of staff marching alongside Tobit, to whom he appears to be showing the way, while the latter holds the fish. Particularly noteworthy is the use of brown ink wash, which barely allows the base pencil to be perceived. This technique is expertly applied with the brush to create volume and shade and to highlight certain details. In this way, the outlines of the figures were painted over with a darker shade of wash, which also appears in certain areas: the folds of the garments, the hair, the fish and Raphael’s wings. The presence of white lead is also generous, often applied without an underlying pencil pattern.
It is very probable that, together with the drawing of Saint Michael (in the National Library) and the Saint Jegudiel the Archangel (in the Uffizi), this drawing was executed for a series to which a canvas corresponding to Jegudiel (Monastery of Santa Isabel in Madrid, National Heritage) belongs. The latter is practically identical to the Uffizi drawing. Finally, it should be noted that this type of archangel is very similar to the angel that appears in the background of Carducho’s 1634 canvas Pope Innocent III’s Vision of the Arrival of Saint John of Matha and Saint Felix of Valois (P5454).
Pascual Chenel, Á.; Rodríguez Rebollo, A., Vicente Carducho. Dibujos Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España - Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, 2015, p.274-281 [278-280 n.58.2]
