Explore the Georges de La Tour about the History of this artwork, Magdalene with the Smoking Flame.
Georges de La Tour was a Catholic Baroque artist with a successful career, despite the fact that he was working at an unsettling time of religious wars and the violence that followed. He learned many skills from the work of Caravaggio such as tenebrism, an especially dramatic contrast between light and shadow. Like Caravaggio, in Georges de La Tour's younger days he was interested in low-life disreputable scenes of hoaxers, thieves, and swindlers. Unlike Caravaggio, Georges de La Tour was not violent or a murderer. His artwork is known to be thoughtful, genuine, and sincere.He painted many versions of the Magdalene, which suggests that several of his patrons were interested in this theme. Throughout his Magdalene series he demonstrates small changes in lighting, pose, and symbolism. Although the changes are small, the paintings seem to portray a number of different meanings and emotions.By the 1620s, La Tour was offered substantial court patronage in Lorraine and royal patronage in Paris. In the 1630s, during the Thirty Years War, La Tour spent time in Paris painting for Cardinal Richelieu. He also painted for King Louis XIII and presented him with a Night Scene with Saint Sebastian. He was then titled painter-in-ordinary to the king.
tenebrism Baroque Caravaggio Catholic King Louis XIII Saint Lorraine Cardinal Richelieu Thirty Years War Paris Georges de La Tour