by Tiffany Laloy
At the height of Counter-Reformation France in the XVIIth century, Baroque art was in part used as a tool to promote the Catholic faith and to inspire and impress the masses.[1] And whilst the extravagance and opulence of some of these religious paintings did indeed arouse emotion and religious fervor, Georges de La Tour chose the simple, mundane representation of the divine to awaken relatability and empathy in the viewer.
Baroque art uses theatricality to create an immersive experience. Light is an essential element of Georges de La Tour’s work. In particular, the candle is a recurring motif in a number of his paintings. He often uses it to create a dramatic chiaroscuro[2], illuminating certain elements of the scene while leaving others in darkness. The candle’s symbolic meaning, representing the light of the Gospel or the divine presence is thus used to inject an atmosphere of mystery and spirituality to de La Tour’s genre scenes.
France
France
With the soft brushstrokes creating the glowing warmth radiating from the flame of the candle, a simple depiction of the mundane becomes charged with a sacramental quality. In Le Songe de St-Joseph (St-Joseph’s dream), the scene is lit by a single flickering candle, suggesting the slight movement in the air created by the child reaching towards the sleeping Joseph. A child? Or an angel? The light emitted by the candle primarily illuminates the child’s face suggesting the heavenly presence come to announce Jesus’s conception. George de La Tour chose to represent the minute before Joseph is to be enlightened. Although the candle is equidistant to the child and the man, the latter is still perceived in the shadows for he is yet to become “illuminated”.
Georges de La Tour’s clever use of light as the subsequent traditional halo is especially striking in his painting Nouveau-né (Newborn), a particularly moving portrayal of the Nativity. Newly born and swaddled, Jesus is represented as a divine being surrounded by the protection of his mother, Mary, and St-Anne. The strong, yet gentle, light from the candle, whose flame the viewer cannot see, diffuses all around the baby’s head. One could imagine that this is how a halo would look like in the real world – not a golden circle or disk, but rather a bright and comforting light.
On the day of the world’s most celebrated birthday, Georges de La Tour’s paintings remind us that magic can be found in even the most ordinary scenes.
[1] “Le Baroque.” RMN – Grand Palais, http://www.grandpalais.fr/fr/article/le-baroque-0. Accessed 23 Dec. 2023.
[2] Chiaroscuro is an artistic technique that uses a strong contrast between light and dark to create a dramatic atmosphere.
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