Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652) was a French

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter, who spent most of his working life in the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy. It was founded in 959 following t ...

, which was temporarily absorbed into France between 1641 and 1648. He painted mostly religious

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

scenes lit by candlelight.

Personal life

Georges de La Tour was born in the town of

Vic-sur-Seille Vic-sur-Seille (, literally ''Vic on Seille''; ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. People It was the birthplace of Georges de La Tour. Art museum The art museum of Vic-sur-Seille, in French ', was cr ...

in the

Diocese of Metz The Diocese of Metz ( la, Dioecesis Metensis; french: Diocèse de Metz) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. In the Middle Ages it was a prince-bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire, a ''de facto ...

, which was technically part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

, but had been ruled by France since 1552. Baptism documentation revealed that he was the son of Jean de La Tour, a baker, and Sybille de La Tour, née Molian. It has been suggested that Sybille came from a partly noble family. His parents had seven children in all, with Georges being the second-born. La Tour's educational background remains somewhat unclear, but it is assumed that he traveled either to Italy or the Netherlands early in his career. He may possibly have trained under

Jacques Bellange Jacques Bellange (c. 1575–1616) was an artist and printmaker from the Duchy of Lorraine (then independent but now part of France) whose etchings and some drawings are his only securely identified works today. They are among the most striking No ...

in Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, although their styles are very different. His paintings reflect the

naturalism of

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

, but this probably reached him through the Dutch ''Caravaggisti'' of the

Utrecht School Utrecht Caravaggism ( nl, Utrechtse caravaggisten) refers to the work of a group of artists who were from, or had studied in, the Dutch city of Utrecht, and during their stay in Rome during the early seventeenth century had become distinctly infl ...

and other Northern ( French and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

) contemporaries. In particular, La Tour is often compared to the Dutch painter

Hendrick Terbrugghen Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) (1588 – 1 November 1629) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called ''Utrecht Caravaggisti''. Along with Gerrit va ...

.Anthony Blunt, ''Art and Architecture in France, 1500–1700'', 1953, Penguin In 1617 he married Diane Le Nerf, from a minor noble family, and in 1620 he established his studio in her quiet provincial home-town of

Lunéville Lunéville ( ; German, obsolete: ''Lünstadt'' ) is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Vezouze. History Lun ...

, part of the independent

which was occupied by France, during his lifetime, in the period 1641–1648. He painted mainly religious and some genre scenes. He was given the title "Painter to the King" (of France) in 1638, and he also worked for the Dukes of Lorraine in 1623–4, but the local bourgeoisie provided his main market, and he achieved a certain affluence. He is not recorded in Lunéville between 1639 and 1642, and may have traveled again; Anthony Blunt detected the influence of

Gerrit van Honthorst Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickname ''Gherardo delle Notti' ...

in his paintings after this point. He was involved in a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

-led religious revival in Lorraine, and over the course of his career he moved to painting almost entirely religious subjects, but in treatments with influence from ''genre'' painting. Georges de La Tour and his family died in 1652 in an epidemic in Lunéville. His son Étienne (1621-1692) was his pupil.

Works

Georges de La Tour (atelier) Saint Jerome lisant Musee Lorrain

La Tour's early work shows influences from

, probably via his Dutch followers, and the genre scenes of cheats—as in '' The Fortune Teller''—and fighting beggars clearly derive from the Dutch Caravaggisti, and probably also his fellow-Lorrainer,

. These are believed to date from relatively early in his career. La Tour is best known for the nocturnal light effects which he developed much further than his artistic predecessors had done, and transferred their use in the genre subjects in the paintings of the Dutch ''Caravaggisti'' to religious painting in his. Unlike Caravaggio his religious paintings lack dramatic effects. He painted these in a second phase of his style, perhaps beginning in the 1640s, using

, careful geometrical compositions, and very simplified painting of forms. His work moves during his career towards greater simplicity and stillness—taking from Caravaggio very different qualities than

Jusepe de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...

and his

Tenebrist Tenebrism, from Italian ' ("dark, gloomy, mysterious"), also occasionally called dramatic illumination, is a style of painting using especially pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes ...

followers did. Georges de La Tour - Rixe de musiciens - Google Art Project

He often painted several variations on the same subjects, and his surviving output is relatively small. His son Étienne was his pupil, and distinguishing between their work in versions of La Tour's compositions is difficult. The version of the ''Education of the Virgin'' in the

Frick Collection The Frick Collection is an art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection (normally at the Henry Clay Frick House, currently at the 945 Madison Avenue#2021–present: Frick Madison, Frick Madison) features Old Master paintings and Europe ...

in New York is an example, as the Museum itself admits. Another group of paintings (example left), of great skill but claimed to be different in style to those of La Tour, have been attributed to an unknown "Hurdy-gurdy Master". All show older male figures (one group in Malibu includes a female), mostly solitary, either beggars or saints. After his death at Lunéville in 1652, La Tour's work was forgotten until rediscovered in 1915 by Hermann Voss, a German art historian who would later become head of Hitler's

Führermuseum The ''Führermuseum'' or ''Fuhrer-Museum'' (English: Leader's Museum), also referred to as the Linz art gallery, was an unrealized art museum within a cultural complex planned by Adolf Hitler for his hometown, the Austrian city of Linz, near ...

; some of La Tour's work had in fact been confused with

Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...

, when the Dutch artist underwent his own rediscovery in the nineteenth century.

In film

Director

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are th ...

has described La Tour's work as a primary influence on his 1982 film ''

The Draughtsman's Contract ''The Draughtsman's Contract'' is a 1982 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Greenaway – his first conventional feature film (following the feature-length mockumentary '' The Falls''). Originally produced for Channel 4, the ...

''. '' Job Mocked by His Wife'' by La Tour appears in the 2003

Francis Veber Francis Paul Veber (born 28 July 1937) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer, and playwright. He has written and directed both French and American films. Nine French-language films with which he has been involved, as either writ ...

film ''

Le Dîner de Cons ''Le Dîner de Cons'' () is a French comedy play by Francis Veber. Story Pierre Brochant, a Parisian publisher, attends a weekly "idiots' dinner", where guests, who are prominent Parisian businessmen, must bring along an "idiot" whom the other ...

'', and is a major preoccupation of the protagonist in the 1984

Muriel Spark Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Life Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernard Camberg, an ...

novel ''The Only Problem''. A reference to a work purportedly by La Tour is featured prominently in the 2003

Merchant Ivory A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

film ''

Le Divorce ''Le Divorce'' is a 2003 romantic comedy-drama film directed by James Ivory from a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Ivory, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Diane Johnson. Plot Isabel Walker travels to Paris to visit her siste ...

''. ''

Magdalene with the Smoking Flame ''Magdalene with the Smoking Flame'' (also titled in French ''La Madeleine à la veilleuse'', and ''La Madeleine à la flamme filante'') is a c. 1640 oil-on-canvas depiction of Mary Magdalene by French Baroque painter Georges de La Tour. Two v ...

'' (not ''Penitent Magdalene'') is the painting in Ariel's grotto she longingly motions toward when she yearns to know about fire while singing "

Part of Your World "Part of Your World" is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Disney's animated feature film ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989). Performed by American actress and singer Jodi Benson in the titular role as Ariel, a merm ...

" in Disney's 1989 film ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

''.

Gallery

File:Georges de La Tour 044.jpg, '' Job Mocked by his Wife'', c. 1625–1650,

Musée départemental d'Art ancien et contemporain The Musée départemental d'Art ancien et contemporain is a museum in Épinal, Vosges, France. Collection The museum has a collection of paintings that includes works by Rembrandt (''Mater Dolorosa''), Georges de La Tour, Le Lorrain, Simon ...

, Épinal, France File:Georges de La Tour 022.jpg, '' The Dream of St. Joseph'', c. 1628–1645, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes File:Georges de La Tour - The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

'', c. 1640,

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

File:Georges de La Tour 003.jpg, ''

St Sebastian Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocle ...

tended by St Irene,'' 1649, Parish Broglie France File:Georges de La Tour 001.jpg, ''Nativity'', 1644,

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

File:Georges de La Tour - Newlyborn infant - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes.jpg, '' The Newborn Christ'', c. 1645–1648,

Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes The Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes ( ''Musée des beaux-arts de Rennes'') is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Rennes, the capital of Brittany. Its collections range from ancient Egypt antiquities to the Modern art period and ...

File:Georges de La Tour 061.jpg, '' The denial of Saint Peter'', 1651,

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

File:Georges de La Tour L'Education de la Vierge The Frick Collection.jpg, ''The education of the Virgin'', c. 1650,

The Frick Collection The Frick Collection is an art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection (normally at the Henry Clay Frick House, currently at the Frick Madison) features Old Master paintings and European fine and decorative arts, including works by B ...

File:Georges de La Tour - Smoker.jpg, ''The smoker'', 1646,

Tokyo Fuji Art Museum was established by Daisaku Ikeda and opened near the Sōka University campus in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan, in 1983. The new wing was added in 2008. The collection of some thirty thousand works spans the arts and cultures of Japan, Asia, and Europ ...

File:Femme à la puce, Georges de la Tour.jpg, ''The Flea-Catcher'' File:Georges de La Tour Saint Andre collection privee.JPG, ''Saint Andrew'' in the '' Albi Apostles'' series, c. 1620 File:Georges de La Tour - The Repentant Magdalen - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Repentant Magdalene'', c. 1635-1640,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Image:Georges de La Tour - The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs'', c. late 1620s,

Kimbell Art Museum The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, w ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. Another version (with Diamonds and slightly different clothes) is in the Louvre. File:Georges_de_La_Tour,_The_Fortune_Teller.jpg, '' The Fortune Teller'', 1633–1639,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

File:Ciego tocando la zanfonía (Georges de La Tour).jpg, ''The

Hurdy-Gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

Player'', c. 1610–1630,

Prado Museum The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

Image:Georges de La Tour 056.jpg, ''Portrait of an Old Man'', c. 1624–1650,

De Young Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the California Pala ...

, San Francisco Image:Georges de La Tour 055.jpg, ''Portrait of an Old Woman'', c. 1624–1650, De Young Museum, San Francisco Image:Georges de La Tour 014.jpg, '' St Jerome'', c. 1630–1632,

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Galleries containing La Tour's works

Canada

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

, Musée des Beaux-Arts de l'Ontario, Toronto, Ontario

France

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon is a museum of fine arts opened in 1787 in Dijon, France. It is one of the main and oldest museums of France. It is located in the historic city centre of Dijon and housed in the former ducal palace which was ...

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy The Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy (french: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy), one of the oldest museums in France, is housed in one of the pavilions on Place Stanislas, in the heart of the 18th-century urban ensemble, a World Heritage Site by U ...

in Nancy, former capital of Lorraine, has the largest collection. * Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes * Musée des Beaux-Arts de

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

* Musée de

Bergues Bergues (; nl, Sint-Winoksbergen; vls, Bergn) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated to the south of Dunkirk and from the Belgian border. Locally it is referred to as "the other Bruges in Flanders". Bergues ...

, Épinal * Musée Georges de La Tour,

Museum of Grenoble The Museum of Grenoble (french: Musée de Grenoble) is a municipal museum of Fine Arts and antiquities in the city of Grenoble in the Isère region of France. Located on the left bank of the Isère River, place Lavalette, it is known both for it ...

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, Paris * Musée Toulouse-Lautrec,

Albi Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albig ...

Germany

* Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Japan

The National Museum of Western Art The is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition. The museum is in the museum and zoo complex in Ueno Park in Taitō, central Tokyo. It received 1,162,345 visitors in 2016. History The NMWA was ...

, Tokyo *

, Tokyo

Spain

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

, Madrid

Sweden

, Stockholm

United Kingdom

* Preston Hall Museum in Stockton-on-Tees, England, has '' The Dice Players''. * The

Leicester Museum & Art Gallery The Leicester Museum & Art Gallery (until 2020, New Walk Museum and Art Gallery) is a museum on New Walk in Leicester, England, not far from the city centre. It opened in 1849 as one of the first public museums in the United Kingdom. Leiceste ...

holds 'The Choirboy'

Ukraine

Lviv National Art Gallery Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery ( uk, Львівська Національна Галерея Мистецтв імені Бориса Возницького) is the largest art museum in Ukraine, with over 62,000 artworks in its colle ...

United States

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

, Cleveland, Ohio *

Chrysler Museum of Art The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. ...

, Norfolk, Virginia *

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

, Seattle, Washington * De Young, San Francisco * Frick, New York * Getty Center, Los Angeles, California *

, Fort Worth, Texas *

, Los Angeles, California *

, New York *

, Washington, D.C.

Notes

References

* Le Floch, Jean-Claude. ''La Tour, Le Clair et L'Obscur'', Herscher, 1995. * Le Floch, Jean-Claude. ''Le signe de contradiction : essai sur Georges de La Tour et son oeuvre'', Presses Universitaires de Rennes 2, 1995. * Thuilier, Jacques. ''Georges de La Tour'', Flammarion, 1992. * Wright, Christopher. ''The Art of the Forger'', 1984, Gordon Fraser, London. . * Furness, Sophia Mary Maud. ''Georges de la Tour of Lorraine, 1593–1652''. Published by Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd, London, 1949. .

External links

Georges de La Tour at Gallery of Art

Attributed painting at the Kimbell Art Museum of Fort Worth

Georges de La Tour. Picturesand Biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Tour, Georges De 1593 births 1653 deaths People from Moselle (department) French Baroque painters People from Lunéville People from Lorraine (duchy) * Caravaggisti