St. Sebastian with Lantern 1630

Georges de la Tour's "St. Sebastian with Lantern" (1630) depicts the saint, tied to a tree and pierced with arrows, being tended to by a woman. The scene is bathed in the soft glow of a lantern, which illuminates the figures with dramatic intensity. This characteristic use of tenebrism, a technique of strong contrasts between light and shadow, was central to de la Tour's artistic style and helped to define the French Baroque period. The painting is now located in the Detroit Institute of Arts.