The Guardian Angel (archangel Raphael And Tobiolo), Onofrio Palumbo (naples 1606 - 1656)

Onofrio Palumbo (Naples 1606 - Naples 1656)
Altarpiece depicting the Guardian Angel (Archangel Raphael and Tobiolo)

Historical context: Neapolitan school of the first half of the 17th century
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 113 x 77 cm., in antique frame 123 x 87 cm.

Provenance: Private collection, Florence

The complete details of this painting can be consulted directly at the following - link -

We are pleased to offer this valuable painting, depicting the Archangel Raphael protecting the young Tobiolo with his great wings, a jewel of the 17th century with an unmistakable Neapolitan baroque style.

Thanks to the careful examination of the relevant stylistic details and characteristics, including the power of the chiaroscuro contrasts and the emotional charature of the characters, as well as the vigorous rendering of the fabrics of the robes, it was easy to attribute its execution to Onofrio Palumbo, a pupil and then long-time collaborator of the great painter Artemisia Gentileschi, during the latter's stay in Naples from 1630 onwards.

He is an interesting artist, an adherent of the art of Massimo Stanzione and more generally of the Caravaggismo current, who has received more than one acknowledgement in recent decades, both from critics and collectors, thanks to the contribution of authoritative historians who have examined his work in depth.

After a very early training in Battistello Caracciolo's workshop, the painter later adhered to the innovations introduced by Artemisia Gentileschi and was influenced by the painting of Massimo Stanzione, as can be seen in his most important work.

The work, of great character and excellent quality, has as its subject the Archangel Raphael protecting and showing the right way to the young boy Tobiolo: the meaning of this iconography took on a broader significance over time, eventually becoming the emblem of the human soul protected by its guardian angel.

The canvas, which was certainly set in an altar of a private chapel, is distinguished by a particularly powerful, solemn and spectacular Baroque language.

The angel embraces the child protectively, while with the other he shows him the sky, made up of clouds full of intense glow and plays of light, in full Baroque style. This sky, which exudes a strong sense of drama, is counterbalanced by the beauty of the angel, his milky complexion, however, marked by a lively dynamism that gives the painting even more movement, and the tenderness of the child gazing at him intensely.

The iconography of the canvas finds correspondence, both in prototype and pictorial quality, with the Guardian Angel in the Onofri collection in Rome (see photo for details), which, at first rightly placed in the artistic milieu revolving around Artemisia Gentileschi, during the years when she was working on the canvases in the Cathedral of Pozzuoli Cathedral, was later assigned to Onofrio Palumbo, a collaborator of the same painter.

The conservation condition of the work appears excellent, embellished with an antique frame, also in good condition.


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