The story is from the apocryphal Book of Tobit: Tobias, instructed by the angel, catches a fish so as to make an ointment to cure Tobit's blindness. The scene is set in a classical landscape. An attribution to Grimaldi has generally been accepted, as there are similarities with his paintings of the 1650s, although another suggestion is an artist in the circle of Giovanni Battista Viola. The tonality and decorative quality might also suggest a later date.