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This painting is attributed to the problematic French painter Trophime Bigot. Documented as active in Rome from 1620 to 1634, Bigot is mentioned by Sandrart as a painter of nocturnal pictures of half figures. A series of candlelit paintings now attributed to him were formerly given to the "Candlelight Master". Once considered to all be by the same hand, the paintings in that group have now been separated into three different sets. The first and most consistent of these retains the name of the Candlelight Master, who has been identified as Bigot. The second set is attributed to a "Maestro Jacopo", author of a Pietà in the Passion Chapel of the church of Santa Maria in Aquiro. The remaining pictures of this group form a third, more diverse set that is attributed to the circle of Bigot. On the basis of convincing similarities with other confirmed works, most importantly the Crowning of Christ with the Crown of Thorns from Santa Maria in Aquiro, the National Gallery Saint Jerome has been placed in the category of original works by Bigot. The picture also has a pendant depicting Jerome's fellow-penitent St. Mary Magdalene, now in the Museum of Art at Ponce.
The distinctive effect of the candlelight visible in the Jerome, light that obliterates many of the details of the saint's anatomy, is typical of the works of Bigot.
According to a recent proposal, the candlelight is a symbolic visualization of the "Lux Intellecti", a metaphor for Divine Grace discussed by Saint Augustine.
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