The artist was born in a small town in the Duchy of Lorraine, an independent territory in the Germanic Holy Roman Empire, a century and a half before it became part of France. A baker's son, he is documented for the first time in 1616. In 1617 he married the daughter of Jean Le Nerf, silversmith to the reigning duke. One of his sons was Etienne de La Tour, also a painter, who assisted him in the f