St Thomas

This Saint Thomas from around 1627 belongs to La Tour's series of apostle figures painted in daylight, a body of work that preceded his more famous nocturnal compositions. The series reveals his debt to the naturalist tradition of Caravaggio, depicting the saints as weathered, working-class men with rough hands and sun-creased faces. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays extreme tenebrism using a single candle or flame as the sole light source, simplification of forms to near-geometric purity, silent contemplative mood, elimination of all extraneous narrative detail.

Painted in the sharp, even daylight of La Tour's early manner, the figure is modeled with bold chiaroscuro but without the dramatic candlelight effects of his later period. The earthy palette and precise rendering of costume textures show careful observation from life.