''Saint Sebastian Tended by Saint Irene'' is a c.1649 oil-on-canvas painting by

Georges de La Tour Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652) was a French Baroque painter, who spent most of his working life in the Duchy of Lorraine, which was temporarily absorbed into France between 1641 and 1648. He painted mostly religious chia ...

. It is one of the largest known paintings by the artist and his most ambitious composition. It was rediscovered in 1945 in the parish church of

Bois-Anzeray Bois-Anzeray is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories ...

and acquired by the

Société des amis du Louvre The Société des amis du Louvre ("Society of Friends of the Louvre") is a voluntary association created in 1897 whose objective is to buy objects with an artistic, archeological, or historical value for the Louvre museum. History The Society w ...

for the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in 1979 as inventory number R.F. 1979–53. A second version is held in the

Gemäldegalerie, Berlin The Gemäldegalerie (, ''Painting Gallery'') is an art museum in Berlin, Germany, and the museum where the main selection of paintings belonging to the Berlin State Museums (''Staatliche Museen zu Berlin'') is displayed. It was first opened in ...

– it was long held to be the original work until being compared with the Louvre work in 1972 at an exhibition of the artist's work at the Orangerie des Tuileries. The Berlin work is now considered to be a studio copy –

Jacques Thuillier Jacques Thuillier, (March 18, 1928, Vaucouleurs, Meuse – October 18, 2011, Paris) was a French art historian specializing in 17th-century French painting. Thuillier was an honorary professor at the Collège de France, where he taught history ...

has attributed it to Georges' son Étienne de La Tour with retouching by Georges.Saint Sébastien soigné par sainte Irène
Louvre collections It is thought the painter sent the first version to

Charles IV of Lorraine Charles IV (5 April 1604, Nancy – 18 September 1675, Allenbach) was Duke of Lorraine from 1624 until his death in 1675, with a brief interruption in 1634, when he abdicated under French pressure in favor of his younger brother, Nicholas Fran ...

(1604–1675) in 1633, before painting a second version for

Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

, who liked it so much that he hung it alone in a room. A third version was also painted for the governor of Nancy in 1649. There are copies in

Ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...

, the chapel in Bois-Anzeray and the church in Broglie.

References

category:1649 paintings Paintings in the Louvre by French artists category:Paintings by Georges de La Tour {{17C-painting-stub