Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born Manlius - Pillar - 1843 - T-Shirt

A single tall column stands alone in an open landscape, drawn in quick graphite pencil on pale paper.

Visual Elements & Composition

The column sits at the right of the sheet, rising from a stepped base to a Corinthian capital with acanthus-type leaves and a square abacus. Small figures at its foot show the scale. To the left, a low ridge crossed by fine diagonal hatching marks the horizon, with a cluster of low buildings at its base. A soft blue wash forms a disc beside the column, and a few faint contour lines suggest the ground. Most of the upper sheet is left blank, and the lower left carries the caption "Pompey's Pillar" with a date beneath it.

Meaning & Symbolism

The column is Pompey's Pillar in Alexandria, Egypt. Despite its name, it was erected around 297 AD in honour of the Roman emperor Diocletian, and it became one of the best-known landmarks for European travellers to the city. Drawn in isolation on a flat plain, it emphasises height and the scale of ancient remains against the modest town beyond. Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born in Manlius, New York, recorded Egyptian and Near Eastern sites in pencil studies like this one. The work belongs to the mid-nineteenth-century travel-sketch tradition, when monuments were recorded for their scale and setting, and its dated caption gives it the character of a notebook page made on the spot.

On the Tee

Pencil studies like this are made to be looked at closely, and the column's upright line runs down the front of the shirt as a single strong element against open space. The blank upper sheet becomes breathing room around the monument, so the design reads clearly from across a room and rewards a second look up close at the hatching and the small figures.