La Tour, Georges de (1618-20). The Payment of Taxes [oil on canvas]. Lviv State Picture Gallery, Ukraine/The Bridgeman Art Library.

This is one of the more extreme examples of tenebrism I’m aware of. The shadows are so dramatic and divisive that they seem to create floating shapes where the light falls on objects behind them. The color scheme seems monochromatic, with the twist that some variations of red aren’t based on value but on purity. | 

This oil on canvas painting depicts a man, probably a merchant, counting out an appropriate amount of currency for officials dictating what is owed from a ledger. A mood of quiet concentration, almost somberness, is effectively inspired. As a work of tenebrism, value is the primary active visual component, and it defines shapes and details. Texture and detail are used to create those gestural and artificial surfaces that are illuminated. There is something of a value pattern invented, with mid-tones and shades alternating overall, and highlights blended into the construct where visual focus belongs.

The central source of light is the primary component establishing space in this work. This is followed by overlapping elements and a monochromatic color scheme that supports the closed-quarters nature of the scene. Pictorially, the depiction favors the right side, but is effectively counter-balanced by the addition of an extra figure with sight line direct away from the area of primary focus. The placement of the figures, and the solid shape they combine to create, result in a roughly static composition.

Drama, muddied colors and reds where hue can be defined dominate this work. The artificial surfaces of cloth overwhelm the organic flesh textures. The serious mood of this work is contradicted by the warm elemental choices. Nearly all of the sight lines in this work direct the eye toward the items below the light source. The local arrangement of the highlights effectively spotlight the primary focus area. There is some attention attracted to the lower left and opposite corner due to color purity.

Built on a skeleton of value, interlocking artificial and gestural shapes are arranged on the canvas in a manner that nearly reflects optical reality. While there are portions that seem to be compressed and elements that could be rotated-off from the manner most elements are angled in relation to the picture plane, this is still a optically realistic and master work of art.