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Saint Joseph Charpentier by Georges de la Tour (Vic-sur-Seille, 1593-Luneville, 1652)

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1645. Canvas. 54" high by 39 3/4" wide. R.F. 1948-27

In this painting given to the Louvre in 1948 by Percy Moore Turner, la Tour has represented Saint Joseph in the simplicity of everyday toil, as indicated by the various objects placed in the foreground of the canvas. Like the figures, the two logos of wood, a mallet, an auger, a chisel and a wood shaving seem to be imbued with a mysterious life. The Child Jesus is seated beside his adoptive father, who is illuminated by the candle the child holds, shielding the flame with his hand-a favorite technique used by the artist. The pure profile of the child, "a true creature of light,"contrasts with the bent head of Saint Joseph, whose face is lit to reveal wrinkles, prominent veins and an anxious expression. This realistic tendency is counterbalanced by a deliberate stylization, evidenced both in the line drawing (the arabesque of the face) and in the simplification of a plane (Saint Joseph's leg). The difference between the style of the smooth surfaces and those in which the brush-stroke is visible in no way detracts from the unity of the picture, painted in a somber range of browns with only a trace of pure red (the child's belt ). Everything is portrayed simply, with a great economy of resources.

La Tour was not the solitary painter his works might lead one to believe. In 1620, by that time a respected citizen of Luneville, he took on an apprentice. By 1621 he was already qualified as a "master". It is highly probable (though not proven) that Georges de la Tour, like most of his contemporaries trained in Lorraine, went to Italy. This would account for the affinities of his work with that of the followers of Caravaggio, especially those from northern Europe, established in Rome.La Tour's Saint Joseph the Carpenter is, in fact, very similar to a picture of the same subject painted around 1616 by Honthorst (known as Gherardo delle Note) for Cardinal Borghese at Montecompatri (monastery of San Silvestro) near Rome. In any event, the direct style of the Dutch painter, dramatic and somewhat theatrical, is quite different from the art of la Tour, which is characterized by a rigorous, unadorned, and wholly "classical" construction. La Tour's figures are lost in meditation, as if in suspended action, and a religious feeling is conveyed, not so much by the lighting as by the quality of silence and solemnity evoked by this canvas-all of which gives this scene a timeless character.

This picture is generally assigned a rather late date in the artist's career, between 1640 and 1645, about the same as that of the Adoration of the Shepherds (also in the Louvre) and of the Repentance of Saint Peter in the Cleveland Museum (signed and dated 1645). The dating of la Tour's works is still hypothetical, however, and no definitive conclusions can be drawn here.

A replica of this picture hangs in the Museum of Besancon, testifying to the fame this work has long enjoyed.
298948
Viewed: Mar 14, 2025
Updated: Jan 27, 2025
Priced: Aug 07, 2022

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Saint Joseph Charpentier by Georges de la Tour (Vic-sur-Seille, 1593-Luneville, 1652)
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