Tobias and the Angel

Gerritt Willemsz. Horst (c.1612 - 1652) . Oil painting on canvas, Tobias and the Angel by Gerritt Willemsz. Horst (c.1612 - 1652), 1630-40. The angel, wearing white and lit by an unknown source (heavenly) stands on the right whilst holding out his left hand to Tobias, seated on the left and who lifts up his right hand to his face in fear or to shadow it and turns away from the angel towards his right. As told in the Book of Tobit, Tobias goes on a journey from Nineveh to Media, to collect money at the behest of his blind father who was fearful of his own imminent death. He is accompanied by the archangel Raphael (who, according to the story, did not actually reveal himself as such until the end of the journey). He catches a fish in the River Tigris whose entrails cure his future wife’s madness as well as Tobit’s blindness. Labelled Rembrandt. Exhibited British Institution 1839, catalogue no. 18. Tyntesfield, North Somerset