Gustave Doré (1832-1883) is the imaginary in power. Passionate about religious art, he enjoyed some success at the 1865 Salon with this small painting, “L’ange de Tobie” (‘The Angel of Tobias’). Created shortly after the illustrations for the Great Bible of Tours, the painting was bought from the artist by the French State, which deposited it in the Unterlinden Museum. It is also one of his first religious works to be exhibited. ‘The Angel of Tobias’ exploited the orientalist taste that was very much in vogue at the time and won the favour of the public. Critics, from Théophile Gautier to Emile Zola, agreed on the dramatic force of Gustave Doré’s productions.