The Archangel Raphael and Tobias

In the pictureGold stars with red dots at their centers hang in a dark sky, and below them two figures walk against a waterside landscape. The angel on the left wears a reddish pink robe and an ochre mantle and has pinkish wings; he holds a small gold vessel in one hand and the boy's hand in the other. The boy wears a grayish-white striped garment and a dark mantle and holds a fish in a red-sleeved hand. A light brown puppy follows at lower right, and the whole is surrounded by a worn wooden frame. Beneath the two figures' feet is a brown dirt road.

BackgroundIn the apocryphal Book of Tobit, the boy Tobias sets out on a long journey with the archangel Raphael, who hides his identity, and heals his father's eyes with a fish caught in a river. The vessel the angel holds is commonly shown as containing the medicine obtained from that fish. It was a popular subject in 15th-century Florence, and the museum's record lists this painting as a work from the workshop of Neri di Bicci (1419–1491) of the mid- to late 1460s. Unlike a larger version in the same museum, a dog appears and stars shine in the sky. Raphael was regarded as the angel who protects travelers, and Florentine families with sons leaving home are said to have commissioned this subject often.

Puzzle tipThe pink robe, ochre mantle, pink wings and the boy's striped garment separate by color. Fit the two faces, the joined hands, the fish and the gold vessel first, and anchor the corner with the puppy at lower right. Lay the dark sky at the top starting with the pieces that have gold stars, and run the outer wooden frame around following its brown grain. The angel's dark gray leggings and the boy's red stockings are clues for sorting the leg pieces at the bottom. 24 or 48 pieces is about right.