Tobias Healing His Father's Blindness

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Artist Mattia Preti (Italian (Neapolitan), 1613–1699)Italian (Neapolitan), 1613–1699

CultureItalian

Titles

Tobias Healing His Father's Blindness

Datelate 1670s

PlaceItaly

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsImage: 41 × 51 in. (104.1 × 129.5 cm)
Frame: 48 3/4 x 58 3/4 in. (123.8 x 149.2 cm)

Credit LineSarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston

Object numberBF.1984.25

Not on view

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Department

Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation

Object Type

PAINTING

DescriptionThe apocryphal Book of Tobit recounts the story of a pious man who was blinded by hot dung which had fallen into his eyes from a sparrow's nest. Tobit sent his son, Tobias, on a journey to retrieve some money owed him. Tobias was accompanied by the archangel Raphael, who instructed him to catch a monstrous fish and preserve its gall. Upon returning home, Tobias applied the gall to his father's eyes, and Tobit's sight was restored.
Provenance[Silvano Lodi, Campione d'Italia, Italy]; [Piero Corsini Gallery, New York]; purchased by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, 1984.
Exhibition History“Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Baffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.

"Picturing the Senses in European Art," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 10–July 17, 2011.

"A Brush with Passion: Mattia Preti (1613-1699). Paintings from North American Collections in Honor of the 400th Anniversary of His Birth," Muscarelle Museum of Art at The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, February 6–April 14, 2013.

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