La Tour, Georges de

French painter. Many of his pictures – which range from religious paintings to domestic genre scenes – are illuminated by a single source of light, with deep contrasts of light and shade, as in Joseph the Carpenter about (1645; Louvre, Paris).

Little is known of his life. Born in Lunéville, of a noble family, he studied art in Italy. His style suggests a connection with the Dutch ‘candle light’ painters Honthorst and Terbrugghen, who were followers of Caravaggio. La Tour transformed the style of these painters into a grave and simplified beauty, The New-born Child (Musée de Rennes) being a well-known example. Other works are The Hurdy-Gurdy Player (Museum of Fine Art, Nantes), an early work, and St Sebastian Tended by St Irene (Staatliche Museen, Berlin).