Cuzco School (XX) - Archangel Raphael fishing

XX Century Cuzco Peru School

Archangel Raphael fishing

The painting is oil on canvas with size 41 x 31 cm

This painting was likely part of a devotional domestic or church altarpiece. These types of images had an important catechetical and emotional function in the colonial world, helping to connect with the religion and promote piety among the faithful.

It is a representation of an archangel, probably the Archangel Raphael, one of the most common figures in this type of colonial religious art.

Key characteristics that confirm he is the Archangel Raphael:
• Raphael is the archangel who appears in the Book of Tobit in the Bible.
• He is often depicted with a fish, because in that story, Raphael helps Tobias catch a fish whose entrails are used to cure his father's blindness.
• He also wears golden wings, luxurious clothing with gold and precious stone embroidery, and a hat with feathers, characteristic elements of angels in Andean colonial painting.
• The style of his clothing, with gold lace and ornaments on a dark background, is typical of the Cuzco School, a pictorial movement born in the colonial Cusco that fused European and Andean styles.

The distinctive ornamental attire is also notable, with gold appliqués, and embroidered details typical of the iconography of arquebus-wielding angels and archangels in South American viceregal art.