unknown - Project for a candelabrum - 1791 v2 - T-Shirt

This design is a pen-and-ink elevation of a candelabrum, with two lit candles rising from scrolled arms above a footed tripod base.

Visual Elements & Composition

The drawing sits in pale cream with charcoal and light grey shading, built on a strictly vertical, symmetrical layout. Two arms curl outward from a central support, each ending in a candle socket. Their undersides carry volutes, leaf forms and small beads. A tall column tapers downward through a vase-shaped collar, a banded baluster and a slender shaft, then settles onto three paw-like feet with a central mask. A pine-cone finial and a bundle of foliage crown the stem.

Meaning & Symbolism

A candelabrum of this kind was a practical source of light, and its foliage and scrolls gave it a decorative role on a table or mantel. The lit candles and the central sprig of leaves carry ideas of growth and brightness, qualities tied to the domestic refinement of the period. The drawing is dated 1791 and is labelled as a second version of the project, a companion to the first. It reads as a study in which the designer refined proportions and ornament before a final model was made. Its restrained use of classical motifs marks it as late eighteenth-century neoclassical work, drawn to guide metalworkers making lighting and table furnishings.

On the Tee

The composition is tall and symmetrical, so it reads best when the shirt is worn upright and the centre line of the candelabrum runs straight down the chest. The two candle arms spread across the torso, and the base sits low, where the eye naturally settles as you move.