Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Study of a Candlestick

François Bonvin
1817-1887

Study of a Candlestick

1879
5 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches (150 x 208 mm)
Black chalk on tan paper
2022.319

Gift of Karen B. Cohen.

Notes
From 1876 onward Bonvin was housebound due to illness. Turning to domestic subjects such as coffee grinders and candlesticks, he lavished care on these depictions of everyday items. Here, spent matches accumulate at the candleʼs base, suggesting the passage of time as poignantly as the smoke curls of the just-extinguished flame. Bonvin made multiple drawings of the same objects, and their serial numbering on the lower left suggests that he intended to publish them.
Inscriptions/Markings
Watermark: Fragment of something in a circle.
Associated names
Cohen, Karen B., former owner.
Classification
School
Department