The Master of Light
How Georges de La Tour’s allegorical vision resonates with our deepest intuitions
In the 1650s Louis XIII of France received a painting from a provincial artist hailing from Lorraine, at the eastern edge of the country. The King was so moved by the painting, described by one historian as being of “perfect taste”, he had all the other paintings removed from his room so that he could contemplate this one alone.
It was perhaps the finest moment in the artist’s successful career. Yet, despite his fame and success, he would soon after this event disappear from history.
The circumstances for this improbable vanishing are a mystery. All we know is that, not long after his death, the artist’s works were somehow disassociated from him — despite the fact that many were signed by his own hand. Instead the works were misattributed to Dutch painters and French compatriots. The artist’s legacy was dismembered and scattered among the legacies of other artists.
For hundreds of years, the artist was absent from art historical accounts while his masterpieces embellished the reputations of other artists. His name and some fragmented details of his life lingered, largely unseen, in bureaucratic archives.
