_Lat._ Sanctus Raphael. _Ital._ San Raffaello. _Fr._ Saint Raphael.
_Ger._ Der Heilige Rafael.
‘I am RAPHAEL, one of the Seven Holy Angels which present the prayers
of the Saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the HOLY
ONE.’—_Tobit_ xii. 15.
I have already alluded to the established belief, that every individual
man, nay, every created being, hath a guardian angel deputed to watch
over him:—‘Woe unto us, if, by our negligence or our self-will, we
offend him on whose vigilance we depend for help and salvation! But
the prince of guardian spirits, the guardian angel of all humanity, is
Raphael; and in this character, according to the early Christians, he
appeared to the shepherds by night ‘with good tidings of great joy,
which shall be for all people.’ It is, however, from the beautiful
Hebrew romance of Tobit that his attributes are gathered: he is the
protector of the young and innocent, and he watches over the pilgrim
and the wayfarer. The character imputed to him in the Jewish traditions
has been retained and amplified by Milton: Raphael is the angel sent by
God to warn Adam:—
. . . . . The affable archangel
Raphael; the sociable spirit that deign’d
To travel with Tobias, and secured
His marriage with the seven times wedded maid.
And the character of the angel is preserved throughout: his sympathy
with the human race, his benignity, his eloquence, his mild and social
converse. So when Adam blesses him:—
. . . . Since to part,
Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger,
Sent from whose sovereign goodness I adore!
Gentle to me and affable hath been
Thy condescension, and shall be honour’d ever
With grateful memory. Thou to mankind
Be good and friendly still, and oft return!
This character of benignity is stamped on all the best representations
of Raphael, which, however, are not common: they occur principally in
the chapels dedicated to the holy guardian angels; but there are also
churches and chapels dedicated to him singly.
The devotional figures of Raphael exhibit him in the dress of a pilgrim
or traveller, ‘his habit fit for speed succinct,’ sandals on his feet,
his hair bound with a fillet or diadem, the staff in his hand, and
sometimes a bottle of water or a wallet (_panetière_) slung to his
belt. In this figure by Murillo (46), from one of the most beautiful
pictures in the Leuchtenberg Gallery, Raphael is the guardian and guide
of the votary who appears below—a bishop who probably bore the same
name.[95]
Sometimes, as guardian spirit, he has a sword: the most beautiful
example I could cite of this treatment is the figure in the Breviary of
Anne of Bretagne (A.D. 1500); he wears a pale-green tunic bordered with
gold, and wings of a deep rose-colour; he has a casket or wallet slung
over his shoulder by a golden belt; in one hand he holds a sword, and
the other is raised with a warning gesture; his countenance, beautiful
and benign as possible, yet says, ‘Take heed.’ More commonly, however,
he carries a small casket, box, or vase, supposed to contain the ‘fishy
charm’ against the evil spirits. (Tobit vi. 6, 7.)
Raphael, in his character of guardian angel, is generally represented
as leading the youthful Tobias. When, in order to mark the difference
between the celestial and the mortal being, Tobit is figured so small
as to look like a child, and when the angel wears his spirit-wings,
and is not disguised, the whole subject becomes idealised: it is no
longer an historical action, but a devotional allegory; and Tobias with
his fish represents the Christian, the believer, guarded and guided
through his life-pilgrimage by the angelic monitor and minister of
divine mercy.
[Illustration: 46 St. Raphael (Murillo. Leuchtenberg Gallery)]
There is a small side chapel in the church of Saint Euphemia, at
Verona, dedicated to St. Raphael. The walls are painted with frescoes
from the story of Tobit; and over the altar is that masterpiece
of Carotto, representing the three archangels as three graceful
spirit-like figures without wings. The altar being dedicated to
Raphael, he is here the principal figure; he alone has the glory
encircling his head, and takes precedence of the others; he stands
in the centre leading Tobias, and looking down on him with an air of
such saintly and benign protection, that one feels inclined to say
or sing, in the words of the litany, ‘Sancte Raphaël, adolescentium
pudicitiæ defensor, ora pro nobis!’ Even more divine is the St. Michael
who stands on the right, with one hand gathering up the folds of his
crimson robe, the other leaning on his great two-handed sword; but such
a head, such a countenance looking out upon us—so earnest, powerful,
and serious!—we recognise the Lord of Souls, the Angel of Judgment. To
the left of Raphael stands Gabriel, the Angel of Redemption; he holds
the lily, and looks up to heaven adoring: this is the least expressive
of the three heads, but still beautiful; and, on the whole, the picture
left a stronger impression on my mind than any I had seen at Venice,
the glorious Assumption excepted. The colouring in its glowing depth
is like that of Giorgione. Vasari tells us, that this picture, painted
when Carotto was young (about A.D. 1495), was criticised because the
limbs of the angels were too slender; to which Carotto, famous for
his repartees, replied, ‘Then they will fly the better!’ The drawing,
however, it must be conceded, is not the best part of the picture.
The earliest picture of Titian which remains to us is a St. Raphael
leading Tobias;[96] beautiful, but not equal, certainly, to that of
Carotto. Raphael, as we might naturally suppose, painted his guardian
angel and patron saint _con amore_:[97] we have by him two St.
Raphaels; the first, a little figure executed when he was a boy in the
studio of his master Perugino, is now on one side of an altar-piece in
the Certosa at Pavia. Later in life, and in one of his finest works,
he has introduced his patron saint with infinite beauty of feeling:
in the Madonna della Pesce,[98] the Virgin sits upon her throne, with
the Infant Christ in her arms; the angel Raphael presents Tobias, who
is not here a youth but a child; while the Infant Christ turns away
from the wise bearded old doctor, who is intently studying his great
book, to welcome the angel and his charge. The head of the angel,
looking up in the face of the Madonna, is in truth sublime: it would be
impossible to determine whether it belongs to a masculine or a feminine
being; but none could doubt that it is a _divine_ being, filled with
fervent, enthusiastic, adoring love. The fish in the hand of Tobias has
given its name to the picture; and I may as well observe that in the
devotional pictures, where the fish is merely an attribute, expressing
Christian baptism, it is usually very small: in the story it is a sort
of monster, which sprang out of the river and would have devoured him.
All the subjects in which the Archangel Raphael is an actor belong
to the history of Tobit. The scenes of this beautiful scriptural
_legend_—I must call it so—have been popular subjects of Art,
particularly in the later schools, and have been admirably treated by
some of the best Dutch and Flemish painters: the combination of the
picturesque and poetical with the homely and domestic recommended it
particularly to Rembrandt and his school. Tobias dragging the fish
ashore, while the angel stands by, is a fine picturesque landscape
subject which has been often repeated. The spirited little sketch by
Salvator,[99] in which the figure of the guardian angel is admirable
for power and animated grace; the twilight effect by Rembrandt;[100]
another by Domenichino; three by Claude; may be cited as examples.
[Illustration: 47 Archangel (Rembrandt)]
In such pictures, as it has been rightly observed, the angel ought not
to have wings: he is disguised as the friendly traveller. The dog,
which ought to be omitted in the devotional pictures, is here a part of
the story, and figures with great propriety.
Rembrandt painted the parting of Tobias and his parents four times;
Tobias led by the angel, four times; Tobias healing his father, once;
the departure of the angel, twice. Of this last subject, the picture in
the Louvre may be pronounced one of his finest;—miraculous for true and
spirited expression, and for the action of the soaring angel, who parts
the clouds and strikes through the air like a strong swimmer through
the waves of the sea (47).
The story of Tobit, as a series of subjects, has been very frequently
represented, always in the _genre_ and picturesque style of the later
schools. I shall have to return to it hereafter; here I have merely
alluded to the devotional treatment, in order to direct attention to
the proper character of the Archangel Raphael.