Growing up Catholic, it was very common to see the saints enthroned, wearing golden haloes as they preside over the angels of the kingdom of heaven. This imagery was far-fetched and so there was always a distance put between the viewer and the divine. It was only until I was able to study art history that I could find the religious art that made me understand what could inspire such faith.

In my Global Baroque class this week where I’m studying the French Baroque. The first artist we start with had my class give gasps of quiet awe— Georges de La Tour. Like many artists of the Baroque period he was influenced by Caravaggio, but in his work we see more of a quiet realism in his depiction of daily life. My favorite piece that we looked at by him is The Education of the Carpenter (c.1642).

La Tour is the master of representing tender moments, as gentle as the candlelight bathing his figures. Here is a scene often not seen, the education of the Christ child by his father-figure, St. Joseph. In particular, Joseph is teaching Jesus how to drill a pin hole, the same technique that would later be used to crucify him. It’s a heartbreaking connection, this lovely scene between father and son verses the foreshadowing of his death. The simplicity of the moment inspires a wealth of far deeper inspiration than any scene of the saints on high. The only real tipoff of who Jesus is in this painting is the unusual shape of the candle flame or how he’s represented as brighter than the light, his holiness shining from within.