Minneapolis Institute of Art

Saint Raphael with Tobias, His Dog, and the Fish

Giuseppe Sanmartino

Date

c. 1780

Medium

Silver, gilt bronze

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Tobias, a young Jewish man, has been sent by his blind father to retrieve money left with a relative. Accompanying him on the journey are his dog and a hired guide who, unbeknownst to him, is the archangel Raphael. When they reach the Tigris River, Tobias is attacked by a monstrous fish. Raphael tells him to catch it and preserve its innards as medicines. Tobias later burns the heart and liver to free his future wife from a demon and uses the gall (bile) to cure his father’s blindness. The lively dog appears in other works by Sanmartino—it may have been the artist’s own pet. Italy, Europe

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