Georges De La Tour : Le Maître Des Nuits

The immense work of Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) is a reconquest of art history. Quickly forgotten after his death, this painter from Lorraine, esteemed by Louis XIII, Cardinal de Richelieu and eminent collectors of the Grand Siècle, is now universally renowned. His work reflects a pictorial culture that is all the more complex to analyse as the artist's training remains an enigma. Italian for some historians, Nordic for others, Caravaggio for most, it probably took place in Lorraine and especially in Paris, in the last years of the reign of Henri IV and the early years of the Regency, within a still little-studied artistic milieu, partly sclerosed by late Mannerism, but nourished by a strong realist tradition coming from Flanders and certainly open to the innovations favoured by the circulation of artists and models, and the dynastic exchanges. This is the conviction of the author of this book, all the more so since La Tour's links with Paris are undeniable and no trace of his presence in Rome, Antwerp or Utrecht has been found.

This book was conceived both as an account of the life of Georges de La Tour, based on archival documents, and as a confrontation of his compositions - originals, canvases reputed to have been painted in his studio, and copies - with the works of other artists of the 16th and 17th centuries, guided by the concern to place this art within the currents of his time while emphasizing its irreducible singularity.