The Archangel Raphael with Tobias and Sarah
This photograph was placed on Wikimedia Commons without any indication of its origin, nor indeed of the photographer. The image represented is a rare example of Sarah being included in a portrait of Raphael and Tobias. The portrait Raphael resembles Orthodox icons, but the inscriptions in the upper corners are in Latin.
The topic of the journey in the Book of Tobit is referenced by Tobias's walking stick and the mountainous background; his marriage to Sarah, by the long white cord they hold between them. The snake probably represents the demon Asmodeus who had beset Sarah's wedding chamber so many times and whom Raphael pursued and bound. Raphael's name means "God has healed" or "God's medicine": Possibly the object in his right hand is a container for medicaments, like the one that hangs from his neck in
this western painting.
Read more about images of St. Raphael.
Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.
