Tobias and the AngelGiovanni Gerolamo Savoldo (Brescia, circa 1480 – post 1548) Follower of Tobias and the Angel oil on canvas 63 x 76 cm - Framed 77 x 90 cm Complete details of the artwork (click HERE) We are pleased to offer this fine painting, depicting the protecting Archangel Raphael with the young Tobias, which echoes the painting by Giovanni Gerolamo Savoldo (oil on canvas, 120x160 cm.), one of the great masters of the early Brescia Renaissance, datable to around 1527 and now preserved in the Borghese Gallery in Rome [1]. In particular, the work, presented here with great character and excellent quality, depicts the Archangel Raphael protecting the boy Tobias with his large wings and showing him the right path: the meaning of this iconography taken from the Bible (Tb 5, 4-8) has over time taken on a more extensive meaning, thus becoming the emblem of the human soul protected by its guardian angel. The subject, particularly popular in Renaissance art for its powerful spiritual value, is here rendered in a sublime way by Giovan Girolamo Savoldo (circa 1480 - post 1548), who is rightly considered one of the most mysterious and fascinating painters of his time, capable of blending Lombard figurative culture with the suggestions and colorism of Venetian painting with great poetry. Born in Brescia, but active mainly in Venice, he in fact converted his origins with a style strongly influenced by contemporary Titian solutions, including the use of bright colors to feign the effect of a light source that invests the angel from the bottom of the painting and places the face of the young man in shadow. This expedient of light, useful to the artist to express his extraordinary pictorial skills and which we also find in our canvas, gives the drapery a glossy and sometimes metallic texture, accentuating its colors and deep folds. The masterful technique played on a cold light with almost surreal effects gives the drapery, here very evident especially in the angel's robe, a silvery sheen that makes it almost wet, becoming one of the distinctive traits of the artist's poetics and which will rarely be equaled by his contemporaries. [1] Savoldo Giovanni Gerolamo (1480 Ca./ Post 1548), Tobias and the Angel ca 1530 - ca 1530, 120 x 160 cm. - Villa Borghese Pinciana, Rome URL: https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/1201008277 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The painting is in good condition with the presence of some restorations consistent with the age of the canvas. The painting is sold complete with an antique frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic card. We take care of and organize the transport of purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers. If you wish to see this or other works in person, we will be happy to welcome you to our new gallery in Riva del Garda, in Viale Giuseppe Canella 18. We are waiting for you! Contact us for any information or to organize a visit, we will be happy to answer you. Follow us also on : https://www.instagram.com/galleriacastelbarco/?hl=it https://www.facebook.com/galleriacastelbarco/