Study of a Candlestick

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.