Most great artists are instantly recognizable. As soon as you see one of their works, you know that it can't be by anyone else. If this is truly the mark of a great artist, then Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) must be among the greatest.
The 17th-century French painter, whose works are being presented to the Japanese public in the first ever comprehensive show at the National Museum of Western Art, had a unique style combining piety with dramatic lighting effects to create stunning canvases that were strangely neglected for centuries by the art world.
It is not difficult to see parallels between La Tour and his contemporary Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), whose few surviving paintings languished in obscurity until they were rediscovered in the late 19th century.
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