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Lot Essay
The identity of Trophime Bigot, a painter from Arles who was in Rome from 1620 to 1634, and the extent of his production, has long been the subject of dispute. A group of paintings usually attributed to Bigot have also been given to the so-called ‘Maestro Jacopo’ or the equally mysterious ‘Candlelight Master’. Along with the works of his contemporaries Gerard van Honthorst and Georges de La Tour, Bigot’s paintings typify a baroque style that found its source, ultimately, in the paintings of Caravaggio. The La Salle Angel watching over the dead Christ was first attributed to Bigot by Benedict Nicholson in 1979.
The debate concerning the identity and extent of Bigot’s oeuvre has continued for more than forty years (see, for example, the catalogues of the exhibitions, Valentin et les caravaggesques français, Paris, Grand Palais, 1974, pp. 9-23; and France in the Golden Age, Paris, Grand Palais and New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982, pp.123, 283, 363). Jean Boyer has made a significant contribution toward dispelling the confusion around the painter’s identity. In his article 'The One and Only Trophime Bigot', (The Burlington Magazine, CXXX, May 1988, pp. 355-357), Boyer points out that the confusion was partly caused by the recording of two names for the same artist, the second name, Trufamont Bigoti, appearing only after the artist’s first visit to Italy around 1600. Boyer believes that the majority of candlelit scenes by Bigot were executed during or after his trip to Italy, and that some of the artificially lit scenes once given to the ‘Candlelight Master’, as well as a group of religious paintings executed in Provence between 1634-50, can now convincingly be given to Bigot.
There is a possibility that the La Salle painting was one of a series of nocturnal religious scenes originally executed by Bigot for the Passion Chapel in the church of Santa Maria in Aquiro, Rome, around 1614-16, along with the Christ Crowned with Thorns (in situ). The La Salle Angel watching over the dead Christ is striking for its remarkable tenderness, and for the physical immediacy through which the spectator is encouraged to participate in the agony and suffering of Christ.
The present composition was well-known to Bigot’s contemporaries and was often copied. Old copies of the La Salle painting, invariably of poor quality, have appeared at auction at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 21 May 1999, lot 104; Christie’s, South Kensington, 10 April 2003, lot 175; and Sotheby’s, London, 29 April 2010, lot 178.
The debate concerning the identity and extent of Bigot’s oeuvre has continued for more than forty years (see, for example, the catalogues of the exhibitions, Valentin et les caravaggesques français, Paris, Grand Palais, 1974, pp. 9-23; and France in the Golden Age, Paris, Grand Palais and New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982, pp.123, 283, 363). Jean Boyer has made a significant contribution toward dispelling the confusion around the painter’s identity. In his article 'The One and Only Trophime Bigot', (The Burlington Magazine, CXXX, May 1988, pp. 355-357), Boyer points out that the confusion was partly caused by the recording of two names for the same artist, the second name, Trufamont Bigoti, appearing only after the artist’s first visit to Italy around 1600. Boyer believes that the majority of candlelit scenes by Bigot were executed during or after his trip to Italy, and that some of the artificially lit scenes once given to the ‘Candlelight Master’, as well as a group of religious paintings executed in Provence between 1634-50, can now convincingly be given to Bigot.
There is a possibility that the La Salle painting was one of a series of nocturnal religious scenes originally executed by Bigot for the Passion Chapel in the church of Santa Maria in Aquiro, Rome, around 1614-16, along with the Christ Crowned with Thorns (in situ). The La Salle Angel watching over the dead Christ is striking for its remarkable tenderness, and for the physical immediacy through which the spectator is encouraged to participate in the agony and suffering of Christ.
The present composition was well-known to Bigot’s contemporaries and was often copied. Old copies of the La Salle painting, invariably of poor quality, have appeared at auction at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 21 May 1999, lot 104; Christie’s, South Kensington, 10 April 2003, lot 175; and Sotheby’s, London, 29 April 2010, lot 178.