The Newborn

The subject is ambiguous because you may be uncertain as to whether or not it is a simple genre scene or it represents the Virgin, St Anne and the Christ Child. The truth is, this could be a painting of any new-born at almost any time. The dress of the women places the painting in the seventeenth-century, but the wonder and rapt attention of the women could be drawn for any time or place in human history. The Newborn is typical of de La Tour’s impressive candlelit scenes and for me, this is the one of the most intimate paintings ever created.