Georges de La Tour al tempo del Coronavirus

The exhibition Georges de La Tour. L’Europa della luce curated by F. Cappelletti and T.C. Salomon, which was held at the Palazzo Reale in Milan and closed at the end of Septem- ber 2020, has prompted a number of reflections on the painter and on the interpretative model presented at the prestigious Milanese centre. The exhibition, somewhat ambitious as a monographic show, put on display only some of the most well-known paintings by the Lorraine artist and addressed his artistic training without resolving the question of a possible journey to Italy, despite the loan of works which, while considered useful to the context, were in fact not entirely relevant. Aside of this, it also ran into some clumsier misunderstandings, traces of which remain in the catalogue, such as the presentation of an engraving by David Teniers the Younger – a d’après published in Roberto d’Azeglio’s vol- ume, La Reale Galleria di Torino, printed in 1836 – as an autograph work by the 17th-cen- tury artist. All this amounts to being a missed opportunity as regards our knowledge of the painter, and qualifies the exhibition as one of the many which, relying on the impact of an important name, attempt without too much trouble to promote an event that would have aspired to pull in the crowds had it not been or the Covid 19 pandemic.