In 1915, the historian Hermann Voss attributed two paintings belonging to the Museum of Nantes to Georges du Mesnil de La Tour.

In 1922, the brilliant art historian Louis Demonts was amazed to discover certain paintings in various museums of the French province of Lorraine - most especially those of Nantes, Epinal, and Rennes - that quite obviously were done by the same hand. His rediscovery was kept a secret reserved to the salons of the intellectual elite of the day. It was considered best that the news be kept from the public at large.

In 1926, the collector Pierre Landry purchased The Cheat, which, upon cleaning, revealed - lo and behold - a signature!

And, finally, in 1934 a major exhibition at the Orangerie Museum of Paris put thirteen works by Georges de la Tour on display. Meanwhile, a third historian, Charles Sterling, set forth these discoveries in "The painters of reality", alongside the likes of, for example, Philippe de Champaigne or the Le Nain brothers.


Over the ensuing years, other discoveries would be added to this first group. Thus, these formerly unrecognized treasures would at last be assigned their true identity!