438px-La_Tour[1]The night here is indeed dark; you get the sense of cold and almost verging on the oppressive. In the dark, hope appears, highlighting two figures with an almost mystical light. The older figure is a bearded man, hard at work and with him his son who dutifully holds a candle so the father can work well into the night. The small boy seems to be saying something very important and the man appears to have paused to listen. From the title, can anyone figure out just who this small boy is? If you have guessed Jesus as a small boy, you would be correct.  From this work, it is obvious that he is learning the carpentry craft from his father Joseph.  The symbolism here is rich and succinct especially in the one represented by the candle. He is the light itself and the power of the candle appears almost mystically from his hands but is in part, not fully visible. This suggests that his full potential has not yet been revealed but rather held back, kept in check until the time is right for it to come out. What struck me when I first came across this work was its feeling of light beating back cold and darkness and I can almost see the breath of the two figures as they work through the night. It has the feeling of hope fighting the dark. It is in fact a simple work with just minimal background and few objects in front to detract from the overall execution of the painting.  The clothes are in a simple contemporary 17th century style with no adornment emphasizing the simple lifestyle of a carpenter of the Middle East in the Roman era.  The detail in this work is very rich in such subtlies as the smoke from the candle flame which seems to move as you watch it. The faces of the man and the boy seem almost photographic in their attention to detail. The man especially, with his wrinkled forehead signifying the laborious task at hand. The boy’s face exudes youth and is shown as a smooth, radiant oval like shape. It is obvious he deeply loves his father by the serene expression on his face. Georges de La Tour was born in 1593 and spent much of his professional life in Lorraine, France. He specialized in religious themes and utilised the technique known as “chiaroscuro” which means strong contrast between light and dark. Using a candle for many of his works added to the rich contrast. His early work suggests he was influenced by the works of Caravaggio but further took that style of work to greater heights.  An earlier work by him was shown in a previous blog “Cheat with the Ace of Clubs” but that work dealt with the machinations of earthly concerns rather than the spiritual. Of the 2 paintings by this genius, I prefer this “Joseph” with its palpable sensations and atmosphere.