An old woman with a book and an incense burner by candlelight

An Old Woman with a Book and an Incense Burner by Candlelight, painted around 1645, exemplifies the type of single-figure nocturnal study that was a staple of Caravaggist painting. The subject combines genre observation with symbolic overtones — the book suggesting devotion, the incense suggesting prayer — in the tradition of Dutch vanitas imagery filtered through Stom's dramatic Italian manner. Stom's mastery of candlelight effects was among the most technically accomplished of all Caravaggist painters, surpassing many of his contemporaries in the subtlety of his graduated shadows and the warmth of his artificial illumination.

The candlelight creates a warm, intimate atmosphere around the solitary figure, with the incense smoke adding a translucent atmospheric element to Stom's characteristic chiaroscuro. The old woman's weathered face and hands are rendered with the unflinching naturalism of the Caravaggist tradition.