Tobias and the Angel

Thomas Wilmer Dewing American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 766

Dewing’s painting responds to a biblical story from the book of Tobit. After the elderly Tobit was blinded by sparrow dung, his son, Tobias—accompanied by a dog and the angel Raphael, disguised as a young man—traveled to Media to collect a debt for his father’s support. While bathing in the river Tigris, Tobias was startled by a fish. Raphael instructed him to seize the fish and save the heart, liver, and gall. Later, Tobias used the organs to drive an evil spirit away from Sara, his future wife, and then to restore his father’s sight. Dewing minimizes narrative and focuses only on the progress of Tobias and the angel across a meadow.

Tobias and the Angel, Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851–1938), Oil on canvas, American

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