Shop art print and framed art Le souffleur à la lampe by Georges de La Tour

Saint Joseph the Carpenter is a painting by Georges de La Tour, whose unknown date is estimated by historians to be between 1638 and 1645. The work was discovered in 1938 by the British art historian Percy Moore Turner, who owned it, and was authenticated as an original by La Tour in 1942. It entered the collections of the Musée du Louvre in 1948. A smaller copy belongs to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Besançon. It is one of the most representative works by the artist from Lorraine, characteristic of his Caravaggesque style and his mastery of chiaroscuro. The large canvas (137 x 102 centimetres) depicts Saint Joseph, dressed in a shirt with rolled-up sleeves, an apron revealing his lower legs, and clogs. Seen from three-quarter view, he is leaning forward, drilling a piece of wood with an auger, which he is holding with his left foot. Carpentry tools lie at his feet. Beside him, the infant Jesus, dressed in a tunic, is seated in profile, holding a candle that illuminates the scene and whose flame makes his fingers appear transparent. The scene is painted in brown tones, almost monochrome. Probably commissioned for the Carmelite convent in Metz. After 1791, following the transfer of the convent to the municipality, the painting was hidden in Ars-sur-Moselle. Between 1840 and 1852, the painting was located in England along with other possessions from the convent. It was discovered by Percy Moore Turner (1877-1950) in a castle and acquired in 1938. Initially offered to the [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the baroque style.

 

« Le souffleur à la lampe » is kept at Musee des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, France.

 

Find the full description of Le souffleur à la lampe by Georges de La Tour on Wikipedia.