Smoker

Against a dark background, a young man in a hat holds a long pipe in his right hand and blows on an ember in his left. He wears a jacket with red sleeves, and the glow of the ember lights his face and hands.

La Tour was a painter who was lost among the works of Spanish and Italian painters for a long time and was forgotten until the early 20th century. Research advanced in the 1930s, and only in recent years has he been reappraised. The painting turned up in southern France in May 1973, and it first appeared in print, listed as number 53, in a monograph on the artist issued that same year. About 40 authentic works are thought to survive.

Rosenberg and Wright, having seen the work in person after cleaning, agreed that it is among La Tour's finest examples. At the same time, most scholars have pointed to the possibility that it was made jointly with his son Etienne. With sharp realism and Caravaggesque dramatic light and dark, it is described as carrying a deep spirituality like that of a religious painting, although its subject is a genre scene.