160 - TROPHIME BIGOT, known as “THE MASTER WITH THE CANDLE” (1579–1650), attributed

TROPHIME BIGOT, known as “THE MASTER WITH THE CANDLE” (1579–1650), attributed Saint Joseph the Carpenter and the Infant Jesus Oil on canvas. Minor restorations Dimensions: 96 x 131 cm—with frame 125 x 163 cm Provenance: Private Collection, Lazio and Bertolami, Rome The painting depicts an intimate nocturnal scene in which the young Jesus illuminates his adoptive father Joseph as he works with wood. It displays stylistic characteristics similar to those of Georges de La Tour, notably the dramatic use of light to illuminate the faces. In the 1960s, the American art historian Benedict Nicolson brought together several unsigned Caravaggesque paintings—all illuminated by a lantern or a candle and sharing consistent stylistic characteristics—which he attributed to an anonymous master known as “the Candle Master ,” before suggesting in 1964 that they be attributed to Trophime Bigot. - Born in Arles in 1579 and trained under Louis Finson around 1613, Bigot lived in Italy (notably Rome) between 1620 and 1634, the likely period during which he produced these Caravaggesque night scenes. Returning to Arles in 1634, he painted religious works for local churches, then divided his time between Aix-en-Provence, Arles, and Avignon, where he died in 1650.