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St. Augustine and Tobiolo and the Archangel Raphael
Wood, respectively 149X62.5 cm + frame 8 cm, Inv. n. 111 and 108
The two paintings of St. Augustine and the Archangel are certainly two fragments from the same polyptych.
The testimony of Oretti and the presence of St. Augustine would solve the case in favour of the church of St. Augustine as its original setting.
In both paintings the figures are set in a sumptuous architecture with columns and pillars decorated with grotesques on a gold background. St. Augustine is portrayed standing with a white mitre embellished with precious stones set in gold, a red cope with gold decorations, and a dark robe. He is lost in reading a book he his holding in his hand, while in the other he is holding a pastoral staff. In the other painting, the Archangel with the child Tobias, who is younger than in the narration of the Biblical episode. Tobias offers his finger to the angel and in the other hand is holding a fish.
The brush strokes, the palettes, and the use of warm lighting are elements borrowed from Venetian painting, and in particular from that of Giovanni Bellini; they also represent a moment of consolidation in the career of Marco Palmezzano.