Flemish school. 17th century. Signed 'I. Winter'. 'Archangel Saint Raphael as pilgrim and guide to travellers' Fragment of oil on panel. Signed ‘I. Winter’ and dated 1626. 52 x 30 cm.   With the detailed realism of Flemish painting, I. Winter (Jodes, Jan, Johannes or Jacobus) perfectly depicts the Archangel Saint Raphael dressed as a pilgrim on the Way of St. James, with all his attributes, as a guide for travellers. We lean towards the first author, although all of them were active during the 17th century, already signing their work and thus marking their character as individual creators or craftsmen, who worked and painted these small formats for the delight of the emerging bourgeois class, who used them to decorate the corners and rooms of their homes. There is a clear relationship between the subject of the portrait and the Book of Tobit. The Book of Tobit in the Old Testament recounts how Saint Raphael the Archangel helped Tobit marry Sarah, a woman who had seen die the men she had married before, tormented by a devil on their wedding night. Raphael accompanied Tobit on his journey, holding his hand. Hence, he is the ‘guide for travellers or pilgrims’. A religious scene set in a detailed landscape full of depth, with a still life at the feet of the subject depicting everyday objects, meticulously painted: mountains and mountain ranges, a city in the background on the right, thick vegetation, a book, a cash box or alms box signed by the artist, and a staff or walking stick at his feet.   The archangel —portrayed as just another traveller and pilgrim—reflects his entire soul and character in his face: a “sent being” who shows the depth of his feelings, his youthful beauty, a reflection of his being, of his heavenly character. Kneeling and presenting his “letter with a seal” to the sky —a reflection of his immediate prayer— he appears dressed in a cape covering his shoulders; a wide-brimmed hat to protect him from the sun with several scallop shells, the universal symbol of the Way of St. James, which pilgrims collected as souvenirs or to use for drinking from springs; a staff or walking stick at his feet; and a pouch, a basket (or bag) to carry his belongings. A detail at his feet to note is the book VITA ACTIVA, a term from Rhineland-Flemish mysticism that speaks of where to find God: in work (laborans); in your works (homo faber) that ‘you do things that last for humanity and eternity’; and in action, filled with the excellence that God imprints on us, where we reflect an unexpected creation for the world, according to this spiritual current.   In short, this is a small-format work of exquisite finesse, laden with symbols and great attention to texture, in which the artist shows himself to be a master of expressiveness through the light and shadows of every brushstroke.