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| Artist | Attributed to Assereto, Gioacchino (Italian painter, 1600-1649) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to Giulio Romano (Italian painter and architect, probably 1499-1546) |
| Title | The Guardian Angel |
| Alternative/previous titles | Tobias and the Angel |
| Date earliest | about 1600 |
| Date latest | about 1649 |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 226.1 x 143.5 cm |
| Description | The boy Tobias was sent by his blind father, Tobit to collect a debt in the distant land of Media. The archangel Raphael accompanied Tobias in disguise and told him to extract the heart, liver and gall of a fish to cure his father's blindness. This story comes from the Book of Tobit which is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon but is considered apocryphal by Protestants. |
| Subject | religion (Tobias, Angel Raphael) |
| Collection | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
| Current accession number | 1948P35 |
| Previous accession number(s) | P.35ยด48 |
| Acquisition details | Given by T. E. Harris 1948. |
| Provenance | Christie's 11 February 1938, lot 134, ascribed to Giulio Romano, bought by Fenonil, 17 guineas. |
| Principal publications | Longhi, R., Dedalo, vol. 7, 1926, pp. 355-77; Brigstocke, H., Revue de l'Art, no. 48, 1980, pp. 37-39; Newcombe, M., Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, 1985; Foreign Paintings in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, A Summary Catalogue, 1983, no. 3, ill.; Zennaro, Paragone, XLVI, 549, 4, November, 1995. |
| Notes | Attribution to Assereto made c. 1938. |
| Rights status | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
| Author | Dr Patricia Smyth |
