Saint Trophime

Biography

Trophime Bigot (1579–1650), also known as Théophile Bigot, Teofili Trufemondi, and the Candlelight Master, was a French painter of the Baroque era, active in Rome and his native Provence. Born in Arles in 1579, he began his artistic career locally before traveling to Italy between 1620 and 1634. During this period, Bigot worked in Rome as the Candlelight Master, known for painting intimate candle-lit scenes. Returning to France, he spent time in Aix-en-Provence from 1638 to 1642, where he painted altarpieces such as 'The Assumption of the Virgin'. He returned to Arles in 1642 and divided his activities between there and Avignon, where he was buried in St Peter's church on February 21, 1650. It is only in the second half of the 20th century that it became generally accepted that Trophime Bigot, painter of altarpieces in the South of France, and the Candlelight Master, painter of intimate candle-lit scenes in Rome, were actually the same person.