Study for the 'Madonna del Pesce'

Raphael (1483 - 1520)

Scottish National Gallery

circa 1512-1514

This drawing depicts Tobias (holding a fish) being presented to the Virgin and Child by the Archangel Raphael. At the right is St Jerome, reading a book. It is a study for the altarpiece for the church of San Domenico in Naples and may have been intended for victims of eye diseases. This would explain the presence of Tobias, who cured his father of blindness by rubbing his eyes with the gall of a fish. The altarpiece is now in the Prado. This work was acquired with assistance from the Wolfson Foundation.

• Medium: brush & brown wash heightened with white over black chalk on paper
• Dimensions: 25.8 x 21.3cm
• Art Fund Grant: £50000 ( Total: £775,000; Tax Remission)
• ArtFunded in: 1992
• Vendor: Christie's

Provenance

Count Gelosi; Sir Thomas Lawrence; Willem II, King of the Netherlands; sale The Hague, 12/8/1850, lot 32; L.C.Enthoven, The Hague; Grand Duke Alexander of Saxe Weimar; P & D Colnaghi; Lt Col. Norman Colville MC; Private collection.

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