Saturday, August 20, 2011

Georges de la Tour - The Penitent Magdalene

Georges de la Tour (1593-1652) lived in the Lorraine, a mixed France-German region south of The Netherlands. His specialty was to paint religious scenes lit by candlelight. He was an obscure painter until he was rediscovered at the start of the 20th century.

Magdalena with the Smoking Flame, ca. 1640
Magdalena with the Smoking Flame, ca. 1640 ( Louvre-Lens, Lens, France)

This painting is currently misused by some shoe shop. I don't really like it so I won't mention their name. I like this painter though. For instance this painting:

The Fortune Teller, ca 1630 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

Just take a look at the faces.





next episode: a troubled mant

5 comments:

  1. What a coincidence! I saw this painting (The Penitent Magdalene) this week in Los Angeles! The Los Angeles Museum of Art has an exhibit of Tim Burton art that I went to see. I toured the rest of the museum while I was there and remember seeing this painting. I am not familiar with the artist, so the painting must have made an impression on me to remember it among all of the other pieces that are displayed there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary, almost every time we visit Los Angles we take the kids to LACMA. So much to see, but I also remember seeing this one there too.

    Rob, I really like the profile of the woman at the bottom. Thanks for this post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nate, next time you are down this way visit the Norton Simon museum in Pasadena - very much superior to LACMA.

    ReplyDelete
  4. True, Mary, but my boys are quick to let me know the Norton Simon doesn't have a cool tar pits with mammoth skeletons right next door.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, the Norton Simon looks like a great museum. They even got temporarily a Vermeer; 'Woman with a Lute'. Their collection of Dutch, French and Italian masterpieces is also very impressive.

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your remarks and suggestions!

Please don't comment using the name 'Anonymous', because unfortunately these will end up in the spam department, due to the large bots leaving anonymous comments with questionable links...

Also don't use links that refer to commercial sites, this is spam (and me no likey spam)!

ShareThis

Gadgets By Spice Up Your Blog Real Time Web Analytics