Carlo Antonio Procaccini (1571–1628), Tobias And The Angel In A River Landscape

Carlo Antonio Procaccini (Bologna, 1571 – Milan? after 1628)

Tobiolo and the Angel in a River Landscape

Oil on panel, 38 x 57 cm

Critical Analysis by Prof. Alberto Crispo

The oil on panel Tobiolo and the Angel in a River Landscape is the work of Carlo Antonio Procaccini, an artist who carved out a unique role for himself within the famous Bolognese painting dynasty. In this panel, the biblical episode is set within a rich and detailed natural setting, where a stream flows placidly beside a mill, while several small background figures enliven the rural scene. The subject originates from the Book of Tobit: the young Tobiolo, sent by his blind father to collect a debt in a distant land, is accompanied and protected by the archangel Raphael, who conceals his divine identity under the guise of the mortal Azariah. The crux of the story, evoked here by the two protagonists’ journey along the riverbank, culminates in the episode of the fish caught in the Tigris River. Following the angel’s instructions, the young man preserves the fish’s entrails for miraculous purposes; it is precisely the fish’s gall, once the journey is complete, that miraculously restores his father’s sight, sealing the success of the mission guided by Providence. The artist of this panel, Carlo Antonio Procaccini, was born in Bologna in 1571: trained under the guidance of his father Ercole and alongside his older brother Camillo, he moved to Milan in 1587 with his family. His career took a specific direction within the workshop: while Camillo and his younger brother Giulio Cesare successfully devoted themselves to history painting and large altarpieces, Carlo Antonio specialized in the so-called minor genres, namely still life and landscape with sacred or mythological scenes. This choice was not accidental but part of a deliberate family strategy aimed at dominating the Milanese art market by catering to every type of patron. His sensibility led him to look with great interest to Northern European models, particularly the works of Jan Brueghel and Paul Bril, whose influences are reflected in the descriptive detail and atmospheric quality of his backgrounds. The attribution of the painting to Procaccini finds solid stylistic confirmation through comparison with other works definitively attributed to him. One example is the Rest on the Flight into Egypt from a private collection, where human figures are rendered with the same brushwork and a landscape conception that is entirely comparable. Similarly, the Baptism of Christ, also in a private collection, displays the same mastery in the rendering of water, the depiction of cloudy skies, and the delineation of the slender silhouettes of the figures—elements that recur consistently in the Tobiolo analyzed here.

Active in major commissions such as those at Lainate and the Visconti Castle of San Vito in Somma Lombardo, Carlo Antonio often collaborated with relatives by painting the landscape sections of their canvases. His fame among collectors of the time was extraordinary, as evidenced by the constant presence of his works in the most prestigious Lombard art galleries and those of the House of Savoy. Through this painting, the figure of a painter emerges who was capable of blending the Emilian academic tradition with the new Flemish naturalistic sensibility, creating images of great balance and delicate visual poetry.