The Hockney Debate, Round 12....

Today's Arts Journal features The Scotsman's report that Californian physicist, David Stork, demonstrated that the only light source in Georges de la Tour's painting 'Christ in the Carpenter's Studio' is the candle in Christ's hand. He claims that this proves the painting was not projected with lenses or mirrors, as Hockney has argued.
Personally, I'm not sure that this 'finding' moves the debate any further forward - it just shows that those involved have a poor understanding of the creative process. De la Tour could have used a lens to project the image using daylight, then painted the detail by eye. The forms don't depend on the light source.
Hockney's argument that detailed and accurate work couldn't be done by hand also underestimates the ability of the trained eye. His opponents' raised hackles over the slight on their heroes' talents suggests that they think that using optics is 'cheating'. How about we give them an old hand-ground lens and some hand-ground pigments, and see what sort of masterpiece they come up with?
More on Hockney's Theories and Optical Devices
More on Old Master Drawings and Techniques