The Fortune-Teller. Artist: Georges de La Tour (French, Vic-sur-Seille 1593-1653 Lunéville). Dimensions: 40 1/8 x 48 5/8 in. (101.9 x 123.5 cm). Date: probably 1630s.
While an old gypsy crone tells his fortune, a naive youth is robbed by her accomplices, a subject popular among Caravaggesque painters throughout Europe in the seventeenth century. La Tour's painting can be interpreted as a genre or theatrical scene, or as an allusion to the parable of the prodigal son. The inscription on the painting includes the name of the town where La Tour lived, Lunéville in Lorraine.