This book accompanies the first exhibition in Italy – reopened on 28 May and extended to 27 September 2020 – dedicated to the French painter Georges de La Tour (1593 -1652), whose work is considered as one of the greatest artistic rediscoveries of the 20th century.
Renowned for the evocative lighting effects of his candlelit scenes, La Tour painted people of low rank rather than historical models or high-ranking characters. His intimate pictures are often monochromatic and geometric, in mostly small or medium formats, with no landscape background.
This 368-page volume is divided into five sections (Mary Magdalene and the light on female destiny; Light between the court and the street; The Return of Gerard van Honthorst; Painting the night; Emotions brought to light) and features works by Caravaggio, de La Tour, Orazio Gentileschi, Gerrit van Honthorst, Hendrick ter Brugghen, Frans Hals and other 17th-century masters.
It proposes new points of view on La Tour’s ways of experimenting with the depiction of luminosity and addresses the fundamental questions that still surround the work of this mysterious artist.
