One of the three who are named

The celestial hierarchy has nine orders, but Western painting names only three of its members with any regularity: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. This title supplies both halves at once — a personal name and the rank of archangel — and so states outright what most entries here leave to attributes. Sixteen of the 224 titles in this catalogue contain the word archangel; six name Raphael.

What the record holds

The catalogue carries no date for this entry and gives Bernabé de Ayala, a Spanish painter, with Baroque as the style term. No dimensions are recorded. The measured colour families are ochre and yellow. No location is recorded.

A record with almost nothing in it

This is among the thinnest entries in the catalogue. There is no date, no location and no dimensions — a name, a rank, a painter and two style terms. Saying so is more useful than filling the gaps, because a rank asserted without a date is still a fact about the title, while a date supplied without a source is not a fact about anything. Raphael's identification in painting runs through the Book of Tobit rather than through armour or a lily, which is why he is the archangel most often recognised by his company.