history of pendant lamps: the chandelier

history of pendant lamps: the chandelier..............................................................................................................................................................................

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history of pendant lamps
the chandelier -

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THE POLYCANDELON

might be the forerunner of the chandelier.
a development of late antiquity, the polycandelon
used rather than one large light source, a varying
number of smaller glass bowls or cones in a
bronze or iron frame giving more spread of light.

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THE CHANDELIER

the word chandelier
meaning candleholder comes from ‘chandelle’,
the french word for candle.
it's applied to a light fixture suspended from the
ceiling, usually having branch supports and two
or more candles or electric lights.

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form and use
the earliest chandeliers were little more than a
cross-shape formed from two beams of wood with
a pricket (spike) at each end.
the candles fixed on the prickets would originally
have been made of animal fat (tallow),
rather than the wax type used today.
very few chandeliers of this period survived
the destruction of the reformation in the sixteenth
century, were to be found lending flickering light to
the cavernous interiors of medieval churches
and abbeys across europe.
the first chandeliers in private homes hung only
in the palaces and mansions of the supremely wealthy
and powerful.
apart from a guttering taper or the dim glow of firelight,
illumination after sunset was largely beyond the
means of most.
we see curly-armed brass forms in dutch and flemish
paintings of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth
centuries. chandeliers are shown hanging in the homes
of the prosperous merchant classes.
more modest households, with access to the raw
materials for candlemaking, might have had chandeliers
made from turned wood, bent metal, wrought iron,
or tin sheet - the latter being a distinctive feature of
pioneering lighting fixtures in america.

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swinging chandeliers
galileo galilei began experimenting with pendulums
after he saw a chandelier swinging in the pisa
cathedral. he noticed each swing of the chandelier
took the same amount of time, even though each
swing was shorter than the previous swing.
this led to galileo's discovery of the law of the pendulum.

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brilliance of chandeliers
mirrors, shining brass plates, and light-breaking
rock crystals (quartz) from the earth were used in these
candle holders to spread and reflect the light.
rock crystal was rare, brittle, hard to work with, and
very expensive.
pressed glass pieces entered into use, but these were
dull because they lacked qualities of refraction.
the glass was also brittle and could not be cut and
shaped like rock crystal. a substitute was sought.
in 1676 an english glassmaker, george ravenscroft,
developed a new sort of crystalline glass resembling
rock crystal. lead oxide was added to the glass during
its manufacture, and this made the material soft
and highly refractive. this new material was easier to
cut and was even more refractive than rock crystal.
though this was a new idea at the time in europe,
the use of lead oxide to enhance the brilliance of glass
was known in mesopotamia in ancient times.
pretty and curvaceous mouth-blown glass chandeliers
began to be made on the venetian island of murano
around 1700.
in the late 1800’s daniel swarovsky of austria began a
career in stone cutting and crystal manufacture.
swarovski patented a machine to cut jewelry stones
to perfection. he expanded the use of this technology
to include cutting crystal chandelier pieces.
he perfected the purity of leaded glass crystal to a state
of flawless brilliance.

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electric chandeliers
the advent of more effective light sources such as
paraffin and electric incandescent lamps reduced
the functionality of the crystal chandelier.
it was propelled to a new standing as a decoration
unto itself, even when unlit.

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design
the chandelier has a long history, its styles changed,
and no other lamp had shown us so many fancifull form
exagerations ... because chandeliers are more than
mere lighting appliances:
for the first time, the names of individual manufacturers
(who were also initially their own designers)
began to appear - william parker, william perry,
and f. & c. osler in england (all these are also well
reputed in india, persia, and america),
baccarat in france, among the bohemian crystal are
schonbek and swarovski, josef lobmeyer in austria,
the mount washington glass factory in america,
and many more.
the growing middleclass market, meanwhile,
was satisfied by more accessible versions, in both
scale and cost.
the chandelier remained popular into the early twentieth
century, allthough the new decorative styles,
such as arts and crafts, art nouveau, art deco...
generally opted for other forms of lighting.
after the second world war the subsequent drive for
fresh forms for every element of the domestic interior
brought the chandelier back to life, in the work of italians
gino sarfatti and achille castiglioni and the german
ingo maurer.

we’re looking forward to the chandelier's continued
reinterpretation as a matchless element in interior
decoration.
here are a few ‘new classics’ and newcomers.

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THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF PENDANT LIGHTS
a fascinating study showing hundreds of examples
© designboom
compiled by birgit lohmann
this history timeline is provided for educational purposes only,
no reproduction, re-use or transcription for any commercial purpose or use of the content or images is permitted.
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