Georges de la Tour French Baroque The Caravaggisti 5 Stars worthy Painting

Georges de la Tour French Baroque The Caravaggisti 5 Stars worthy Painting

Georges de la Tour was a French Baroque artist. He was a great fan of Caravaggio. Like him, he painted religious scenes using chiaroscuro. However, unlike Caravaggio, La Tour added a well defined light. He used the candles to represent divine light. No one is certain where La Tour learned to paint. Art Scholars  also wonder when and were he saw Caravaggio's work. Not much is known about his life. One day, his family and himself died of the plague. All that remained of La Tour was his artwork. I think that is enough background information about Georges de la Tour. All we know for certain about him is that we hardly know anything about his life.




The first painting shows Mary Magdalene. She was a common subject of La Tour. As such, she is meditating on life after death. Part of her meditations involved looking at the candle. The light represents the grace of God. Before her, we see a mirror. The reflection we see is a skull on top of a Bible. This also alludes to our inevitable death. Like Jesus, we must all die in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. This depressingly dark spooky painting deserves 5 stars rating.

In this painting, we see Saint Sebastian. The maiden in red is tending to his arrow wounds. Now, she is in the middle of taking out the last arrow. She is tending to him very carefully.Her dress has a stylized heart. Beside her, there is a servant holding a lantern. Behind the saint, we see his legionnaire armor. The scene is taking place outside, at night. Truly, these maidens are hiding their actions. They were not supposed to save the saint. Thus, the lantern serves as a symbol of this miraculous save. This lovely painting by Georges de la Tour deserves 5 stars rating.

Here is another Mary Magdalene painting. Aside from the Bible, the Candles, and the Skulls; we see a whip on the table. Her exposed shoulders and the whip allude to a monkish practice of purification. You know, the "pain is the cleanser" ritualistic whipping. Jesus said we must lead by example. However, if I remember correctly, Jesus never whipped himself. It was the Romans who punished him. Regardless, that show of piety was pretty popular during the Counter Reformation period. That point aside, this Mary Magdalene by Georges de la Tour deserves 5 stars rating.

This painting is the most famous work of Georges de la Tour. It is a genre scene with a religious moral lesson. Like we all know, Catholics hate gambling. As such, we see this boy in red about to be cheated of his money. The rich boy in red is focused on his card. However, the other three people at the table are in on the game. The rich matron signals to the maid. She in turn signals to the man in gold. He is in the middle of taking out his ace in the hole. Interesting enough, the cheat is also signaling to us. We are in the perfect position to look at both his cards and the cards of the kids. In a way, the audience partakes in the game. Truly, this loss of innocence painting deserves 5 stars rating.

This next painting follows around the same line. Like before, a young rich kid stumbled upon a bad neighborhood. An old woman is telling him his fortune. On the meantime, her gypsy allies are robbing him blind. The cute girl between himself and the gypsy is stealing his watch. The two girls behind him are picking his pocket. Naturally, this fortune teller is going to be pretty accurate when she tells him that his fortunes look bleak. In any case, this painting deserves 5 stars rating.

During the counter Reformation, the reputation of St. Joseph improved. As Jesus's foster father, it was his duty to teach him the work of men. Here, we see him making a wooden piece. On the meantime, young Jesus is holding up a night light. Both are seeing eye to eye. It is interesting to contrast, the strength of St. Joseph and Jesus fragile legs. Another detail worth mentioning is the wooden plank in the floor. This piece allude to the cross. They were in high demand during Jesus' time. In any case, this painting about the education of Jesus deserves 5 stars rating.

Here is the last Mary Magdalene painting. Here she is gazing at the reflection of the candle in the mirror. The mirror confirms the existence of something. Thus, the reflecting candle confirms the existence of the grace of God. That is the purpose of the mirror in this painting. In any case, this lovely painting deserves 5 stars rating.

In this scene, Joseph fell asleep while reading the scriptures. The day before he was planning on abandoning the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. While he slept, he was visited by an angel. Here we see the angel talking with Joseph. The only source of light comes from a candle. The entire scenery is quite humble and mysterious. This lovely painting by Georges de la Tour deserves 5 stars rating.

This next painting is about the education of the virgin. It goes parallel with the Education of Christ. What is neat is the way the virgin Mary is holding her candle. She holds it in quite a feminine way. Before her, is her mother. To her side, we see a laundry bag. This painting represents the ideal education of women. During those days, it was seen highly that women learned to read the bible. I think that is everything worth mentioning. George de la Tour deserves 5 stars rating for this piece.

This last painting shows "The Adoration of the Shepherds". The two figures in the foreground are Joseph and Mary. Joseph is the guy holding up the candle. The scenery is darkened by the extreme chiaroscuro. In a way, this darkness saves la Tour the trouble of illustrating backgrounds. In any case, this last featured painting deserves 5 stars rating. I hope that you liked these feature paintings. I have more art blogs planned for the near future.