In this artwork, how is the History discussed?
Trained initially by his father Filippo Lippi, after his father's death Filippino Lippi became a pupil of Sandro Botticelli in 1472.  This painting is an early work, with a similar composition to earlier works by Antonio del Pollaiuolo and Andrea del Verrocchio.  A later painting by Filippino Lippi, his c. 1485 Three Angels and Young Tobias, in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin, depicts a similar scene, with Tobias accompanied by the archangels Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel.
The early history of the painting is not known.  It was sold from the collection of Alexander Barker in 1879, and passed through the collections of William Cornwallis-West, and Robert Henry Benson.  The Benson Collection was sold to Duveen Brothers in 1927, and the painting was acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1936.  It was donated to the National Gallery of Art of Washington, DC in 1939 and where it is held as part of the gallery's Samuel H. Kress Collection.
Michael Washington, DC Duveen Brothers National Gallery of Art Filippino Lippi Raphael Alexander Barker William Cornwallis-West Samuel H. Kress Antonio del Pollaiuolo Sandro Botticelli Three Angels and Young Tobias Gabriel Andrea del Verrocchio Robert Henry Benson Filippo Lippi Galleria Sabauda