About the Author

Jacques Thuillier (1928–2011) was a world renowned specialist on seventeenth-century art and professor at the College de France.

Reviews

Now recognized as one of the preeminent figures of French art, the great 17th-century Lorrainese painter was almost completely unknown to historians until early in this century. Even today, La Tour remains an enigmatic figure, making this, the first noteworthy monograph on him in English, an extremely welcome and important book. Thuillier (College de France) contributes a very interesting essay surveying the man and his work, but he also wisely allows La Tour's art to speak for itself. This it most definitely does in the volume's 330 illustrations, many of them full-page enlargements from La Tour's most famous canvases. The paintings reveal a wonderful blend of Italian and Northern influences, resulting in an orderly, calm style distinguished by its muted but luminous palette. An excellent book on the maker of truly unforgettable paintings, this is highly recommended for both general and scholarly collections.-- Douglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., Cal.

One of the grand masters of French painting, Georges de la Tour (1593-1652) paradoxically evolved a highly contrived style to accommodate his uncompromising realist vision. Seeking to reveal inner character through outward appearance alone, he pared down his universe to its absolute limits. In his famous nocturnal scenes, dramatically lit by a candle or hidden light source, the characters, with their calm, mask-like faces, exude an aura of mystery. La Tour's diverse output encompasses the stylized social comedy of The Fortune Teller , the spiritual rapture of Saint Jerome and the earthy realism of A Flea Catcher , which depicts a semi-nude woman ridding herself of fleas before going to bed. In this exhaustive, erudite, sumptuously illustrated study, Thuillier, a French art historian, examines the life and work of an artist who exerts a continuous appeal. (Dec.)