(Florence 1571–1626)
Tobias restores his father’s sight,
oil on canvas, octagonal, 96.5 x 76.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Filippo Pasqui, Villa Pallò, Impruneta;
and thence by descend to the present owner

Literature:
R. Contini, Giovanni Pratesi Antiquario: XIII Biennale di Antiquariato, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence 1983, p. 20, ill. p. 21 (as Florentine Painter, 17th Century [Anastasio Fontebuoni ?]);
R. Contini, G. Papi (eds.), Artemisia, exhibition catalogue, Florence 1991, p. 184, fig. 100 (as Anastasio Fontebuoni);
F. De Martino, Anastasio Fontebuoni (1571-1626), Rome 2006, p. 47, cat. no. 24, ill. p. 98 pl. 50 (as Attributed to Anastasio Fontebuoni);
G. Cantelli, Repertorio della pittura fiorentina del Seicento: aggiornamento, Pontedera 2009, p. 105 (as Attributed to Anastasio Fontebuoni);
S. Bellesi, Catalogo dei pittori fiorentini del ‘600 e del ‘700: biografie e opere, Florence 2009, p.147 (as Attributed to Anastasio Fontebuoni)

We are grateful to Sandro Bellesi for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of high resolution photograph.

The present work has been dated to the artist’s Roman period and was executed between 1610 and 1620 (see Contini in literature). The ‘medusa-like’ handling of Tobias’ hair is similar to that of the angels in the frescoes of the church of Santa Balbina, while the clarity of the highlighting is partially indebted to Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi who had recently reached Rome (see op. cit. Contini, 1991). Additional stylistic affinities can be found in the features of Archangel Raphael and the cross-bearing angels in the Vision of Saint Bernard at Bassano Romano of 1620 (see op. cit. Bellesi, 2009, p. 291, fig. 635) and in the features of Tobias and Julius II in the Casa Buonarroti painting.

Anastasio (or Anastagio) Fontebuoni was born in Florence in 1572 but he spent much of his life in Rome: his paintings are a perfect fusion of Tuscan drawing, which he never abandoned, and the innovations of Caravaggio’s naturalism to which he always remained attentive. Both Filippo Baldinucci and Giovanni Baglione recall him as a pupil of Domenico Passignano; from 1599 he lived in Rome where he was elected a member of the Accademia di San Luca and became involved in important painting enterprises, such as those at Santa Prisca, and the above mentioned Santa Balbina.

Giovanni Baglione and Andrea Commodi were both inspiring Fontebuoni’s studies on the theme of light. In his best-known works Fontebuoni is distinguished for his ‘luminous application of paint and the beautiful and clear quality of his portraits’ (see F. Scricchia Santoro, ‘La Madonna di Pistoia’ e l’attività romana di Anastasio Fontebuoni, in: Commentari, Rome 1974, vol. 25, p. 45).

The subject represented in this octagonal composition is drawn from the Old Testament. It depicts the story of the elderly Tobit and his son Tobias (or Tobiah): their Hebrew family was subjected to slavery at Nineveh, here the elderly head of the family exerted himself to help his compatriots in captivity. Having lost his sight owing to exhaustion, God sent the Archangel Gabriel to their aid. While in disguise the angel advised Tobias to extract the bile of a certain fish and to apply it to his father’s eyes, which miraculously regained their sight.