La Tour, Georges de (1593–1652)

French painter. Many of his pictures – which range from religious paintings to domestic genre scenes – are illuminated by a single source of light, with deep contrasts of light and shade, as in Joseph the Carpenter about (1645; Louvre, Paris).

Little is known of his life. Born in Lunéville, of a noble family, he studied art in Italy. His style suggests a connection with the Dutch ‘candle light’ painters Honthorst and Terbrugghen, who were followers of Caravaggio. La Tour transformed the style of these painters into a grave and simplified beauty, The New-born Child (Musée de Rennes) being a well-known example. Other works are The Hurdy-Gurdy Player (Museum of Fine Art, Nantes), an early work, and St Sebastian Tended by St Irene (Staatliche Museen, Berlin).

He was active in Lorraine, and patronized by the duke of Lorraine, Richelieu, and perhaps also by Louis XIII. Though famous in his lifetime, he was forgotten until rediscovered by an art historian in 1863. In the 20th century several pictures attributed to others were identified as his, although the authenticity of some has been questioned.