Something nice: Georges de La Tour

MAN seems awfully dour this morning, so I thought I'd brighten it up with a little art-love. Last week I was chatting with a friend of mine about underappreciated art, good ol' art comfort food such as Dutch genre painting. So I thought I'd share this:

Last month, when I was at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco (it's one of two museums under the FAMSF umbrella -- the de Young is the other), I spent a lot of time with two fantastic little Georges de La Tour paintings. Here's the old man, here's the old woman. They hang side-by-side at the Legion.

How modern these paintings are! If you didn't know better (and if you were standing at a distance) you'd peg these as mid-19th century canvases, perhaps early Manets. After all, Manet often painted models in costume, posed against neutral backgrounds, animated by specks of color. But these La Tours pre-date Manet by plenty, by 240 years.

Both paintings are only 36 inches tall, and that diminutiveness encourages close viewing. You can't see it in these JPEGs (you kind of can via zoom here and here), but the woman's flowing silk apron creates an unusually rich contrast with her coarse white cotton blouse. The shadows in the background and the theatric play of lgiht against dark creates a stage-like effect. The posture of each figure holds its own narrative.

The two San Francisco La Tours are unlike any others in America, almost Dutch in their treatment of fabric. (Georges was, obviously, French.)Elsewhere: The NGA's de La Tour is a visitor favorite, especially among children. LACMA's is related to the NGA's, right down to the light and the skull. The Met's is kind of comical. The Getty's is messier, almost chaotic (kind of like a stage-fight). The Frick's (which I think has sometimes been attributed to a de la Tour assistant) is softer, like the NGA's. And just for fun: I loved this FAMSF Tintoretto too.