“The Fortune-Teller” is an oil on canvas painting by the French Baroque artist Georges de la Tour, estimated to have been created circa 1632 to 1635. The painting exemplifies tenebrism, an artistic style that employs dramatic chiaroscuro, emphasizing the contrast between light and shadow to create a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures. With dimensions of 123.5 by 101.9 cm, this genre painting depicts a candid scene that unfolds between its subjects. The artwork is part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, NY, USA.
The artwork features a grouping of figures engaged in an intimate and deceptive exchange. Centrally, a young man is being tricked by a fortune-teller and her accomplices. The fortune-teller, an elderly woman on the right, appears to be interpreting the young man’s palm, drawing his attention and seemingly offering insight into his future. However, her true intent is revealed through the actions of the figures flanking the man.
To his left, a trio of young women—who are accomplices to the ruse—exhibit varying degrees of complicity. The closest to him expertly slips a coin from his pocket, illustrating the subtle act of theft. The folds of the garments, the textures of the fabrics, and the detailed expressions on the faces are rendered with meticulous attention. The gazes of the figures are particularly telling, with the young man’s naive and captivated eyes contrasting sharply with the knowing and deceitful glances shared among the other characters.
This scene is imbued with a moral lesson on the perils of gullibility and duplicity, a common theme in 17th-century genre paintings. De la Tour’s masterful use of tenebrism enhances the theatricality of the scene, focusing the viewer’s eyes on the hands in motion and the interplay of glances, thus heightening the narrative tension within the composition.
