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Design

1865-1872 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Design for gas lighting brackets above arches and between niches containing sculpture in a church or cathedral. They were drawn by the metalworker Francis Skidmore (born in Birmingham, 1817, died in Coventry, 1896) about 1865-1872 and made by his firm Skidmore's Art Manufactures Company, Coventry. Skidmore was particularly interested in the developing technology of gas lighting. His firm installed it in three buildings in Coventry - in the medieval St Mary's Hall in 1850, in St Michael's church a year later and in Holy Trinity Church in 1856. In the following decades, Skidmore continued to design brackets for gas lighting which existed throughout Britain in this period. Inspired by Gothic decoration, the tracery in the fitting beneath the gas jets and the acanthus leaf on either side of the pipe below it demonstrate this artist-craftsman's involvement in the Gothic Revival, an architectural movement, which originated in mid-eighteenth century England, and in which nineteenth- century practitioners sought to revive medieval forms.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pencil, watercolour and gilt paint on paper
Brief description
Design by Francis Skidmore (1817-1896).
Physical description
Design for gas lighting brackets above a arch and between the statues of a monk and a bishop in niches with canopies decorated with spires.
Dimensions
  • Height: 35.7cm
  • Width: 50.9cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'SKIDMORE'S ART MANUFACTURES compy / COVENTRY' (In pen and ink at bottom right.)
  • 'Sketch for Lights between / Niches / either all brass or illuminated / no7 2feet high' (in pencil)
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Friends of the National Libraries
Subject depicted
Summary
Design for gas lighting brackets above arches and between niches containing sculpture in a church or cathedral. They were drawn by the metalworker Francis Skidmore (born in Birmingham, 1817, died in Coventry, 1896) about 1865-1872 and made by his firm Skidmore's Art Manufactures Company, Coventry. Skidmore was particularly interested in the developing technology of gas lighting. His firm installed it in three buildings in Coventry - in the medieval St Mary's Hall in 1850, in St Michael's church a year later and in Holy Trinity Church in 1856. In the following decades, Skidmore continued to design brackets for gas lighting which existed throughout Britain in this period. Inspired by Gothic decoration, the tracery in the fitting beneath the gas jets and the acanthus leaf on either side of the pipe below it demonstrate this artist-craftsman's involvement in the Gothic Revival, an architectural movement, which originated in mid-eighteenth century England, and in which nineteenth- century practitioners sought to revive medieval forms.
Collection
Accession number
E.393-2006

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Record createdMay 25, 2007
Record URL
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