Georges de La Tour - Los comedores de guisantes

Georges de Latour, the diners of Guisantes, around 1622. The old couple is illuminated laterally by a strong and bright light that creates the effect of dark light, with areas of intense color and other deeply dark sections. They appear in a half-body portrait, almost of natural size. Both are eating, in clay bowls and with short-spoon spoons, their exquisite food, some cooked peasants. The peasant woman seems to have stopped briefly and, with her mouth half-open, looks at us, as far as this is possible, with her eyes sunk, almost invisible. The natural dignity with which the painter endows his models portrayed in all their poverty, old age and physical fragility, is exceptional. The undetermined environment, a gray background barely sketched and the pronounced light-dark contrast correspond to the Caravaggio tradition. Latour may have become familiar with the work of this artist from engravings or his Annunciation, which was installed in 1609 on the main altar of the Cathedral of Nancy. Despite having been celebrated during his life, Latour was forgotten shortly after his death. His obstinate and controversial character, which appears documented in archives, may have contributed to this fate. It was necessary the seminal essay of Herman Voss in 1915, which showed reproductions of three of his works, to reintroduce the name of the artist in the history of art. Since then, our knowledge of him has expanded to about 80 works, some repeated in several versions, almost like a series, and others copied. The painting of this Berlin collection is undoubtedly an early original, of which at least three later copies of the 17th century are known.