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Cinematography and Light

Georges De La Tour ( The Dream of St. Joseph)

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• Oh yes, the paintings. Georges de la Tour was born in 1593 in the duchy of Lorraine in north-eastern France.

• He travelled to Italy and Netherlands early in his career, where he may have been influenced by Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

Caravaggio( Calling of St. Matthew)

Rembrandt( )

• The glow of single source, practical, in-shot candlelight sets his work apart from Caravaggio, whose hard, directional lighting is similar, but comes from out of frame.

• De la Tour was able to imagine and paint scenes illuminated by one candle, one foot from the subject: something that would take more than another 300 years to photograph.

• He instinctively understood how the flame was the brightest point in the frame, and often covered the actual source of light with a hand or arm to draw attention to faces and expressions where needed.

Rembrandt( )

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