GOBIN, Michel
(active around 1681, Orléans)

Young Man with a Candle

1681
Oil on canvas, 121 x 116 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans

Many authorities believe that this picture is an allegory of study and vigilance, rather than a genre scene without any specific meaning.

The painting is a remarkable proof of the long continuation of the early seventeenth-century tenebrist tradition; only the handling of still-life is any indication of the late date of the picture.

It is assumed that Gobin worked at Orléans. He was also a still-life painter, and it is likely that his work is still confused with that of Miffren Conte.