William F. Shaw’s architectonic girandoles are the most memorable expression of the Gothic revival in American lighting devices. In 1845 he established both a factory and a store, advertising that he retailed American and English fixtures. The girandoles in the Bayou Bend collection depict the Bigelow Chapel at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Notable as America’s first planned, nonsectarian graveyard, its chapel was designed by Jacob Bigelow (1787–1879), one of the cemetery’s founders. Coincidentally, William F Shaw is interred there.

Technical notes: The chapel and floral-scrolled branches are separate castings. These girandoles’ bronze patination and gilt highlights are exceedingly rare. The centerpiece’s marble foot may represent an old replacement.

Related examples: Howe and Warren 1976, p. 62; Hanks and Peirce 1983, p. 83; Bacot 1987, pp. 154, 188–89; Douglas 1994.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.