Oil on canvas, 91.5cm by 124.5cm.
According to church tradition, the saints Peter and Paul founded Christianity in Rome where they taught together.
They died for their faith, both martyred by the Emperor Nero.
Also known as the ‘Candlelight Master,’ for his relatively small-scale, candle-lit scenes, Bigot worked in a style similar to that of his more celebrated French contemporary Georges de la Tour (1593-1652).
He was active in both Rome and his native Provence, where he painted altarpieces in a more conventional style.
His two rather different styles leading, for many years, to the supposition that they were really the work of two different artists of the same name.
Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793) recorded his purchase of the painting from Signor Ammirani in Rome in 1768, whilst on his second Grand Tour.
