Trophime Bigot (1579–1650), also known as Théophile Bigot, Teofili Trufemondi, the Candlelight Master (Maître à la Chandelle),[1] was a French painter of the Baroque era, active in Rome and his native Provence.
Bigot was born in Arles in 1579, where he began his artistic career. Between 1620 and 1634, Bigot was in Italy, including Rome. He is known to have been in Arles in 1634, where he painted altarpieces of Saint Laurence Condemned to Torture and the Assumption of the Virgin) for local churches.[2] Between 1638 and 1642, he lived in Aix-en-Provence, where he painted another Assumption. 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.[3]
Only in the second half of the 20th century did it become 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.