Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case IONIDES, Shelf 2

Metalwork Design

1818
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Nine drawings on one sheet showing different designs for a silver candelabrum, by John Flaxman (1756- 1826), circa 1818.
The drawings depict three different types of candelabra.
The first shows a standing male figure holding a staff with a winged figure descending from above and two candle branches surmounted by a phoenix crest.
The second shows a candelabrum with two seated figures on the base and putti on the stem and probably a phoenix.
The third type shows a figure of Fame crowning a seated figure of Britannia with a lion by her side with at the top a Phoenix.

Profiles, less than full size


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pencil on laid paper, watermarked with a seated Britannia figure in a crowned oval.
Brief description
Designs, nine on one sheet, for a silver candelabrum, by John Flaxman (1755- 1826), circa 1818
Physical description
Nine drawings on one sheet showing different designs for a silver candelabrum, by John Flaxman (1756- 1826), circa 1818.
The drawings depict three different types of candelabra.
The first shows a standing male figure holding a staff with a winged figure descending from above and two candle branches surmounted by a phoenix crest.
The second shows a candelabrum with two seated figures on the base and putti on the stem and probably a phoenix.
The third type shows a figure of Fame crowning a seated figure of Britannia with a lion by her side with at the top a Phoenix.

Profiles, less than full size
Dimensions
  • Height: 187mm
  • Width: 237mm (Note: Cut)
Object history
The design showing the Britannia being crowned is related to a tracing after Flaxman in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (23.68.1 leaf 28H) in which a very similar figure of Fame crowns a helmet which forms the crest of a shield on which is shown a phoenix rising from the flames against a background of flames.
On the stem a putto is holding up a crown above which is a Phoenix rising from the flames.
Also related to this design is a drawing by Edward Hodges Baily (British Museum 1913-3-31-289, watermarked 1818) showing Fame crowning Britannia and a lion beside her and also figures of Minerva and Neptune around the base.
The treatment of the candle arms in all these designs is very similar.
Bequeathed by C. A. Ionides 1900.
Subject depicted
Bibliographic reference
D. Bindman Ed., John Flaxman, R.A., Royal Academy of Arts, 1979. David G. Irwin, John Flaxman 1755-1826 : sculptor, illustrator, designer, London : Studio Vista, 1979. Shirley Bury, “The lengthening shadow of Rundell's”, Connoisseur CLXI, no.648, p.79; no.649, p.152; no.650, p.218. Robert R. Wark, Henry E., Drawings by John Flaxman in the Huntington collection, 1970.
Collection
Accession number
CAI.970

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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