120 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 19 1 3 



American days was either the candle, 

 whale oil, or what was known as astral 

 oil. Burners for use with these oils are 

 now no longer obtainable and although 

 the use of kerosene in old lamps is pos- 

 sible, if modern burners be used, it is 

 seldom really satisfactory. The oil for 

 which the lamps were made was heavy 

 and slow burning and a receptacle which 

 would hold a supply sufficient for many 

 hours holds barely enough kerosene for 

 one evening's use. The fitting of old 

 candlesticks and lamps for electricity is, 

 of course, quite simple and their use is 

 easy to arrange if one's home be pro- 

 vided with electric current. Great in- 

 genuity has been employed in inventing 

 all kinds of devices for using electricity 

 for lighting purposes, and many of these 

 clever arrangements are helpful to one 

 who is using these old-time Colonial 

 treasures to furnish light for a modern 

 American home. Lamps and girandoles, 

 which are made in sets of two or three, 

 are not intended to be frequently moved 

 from the mantels where they are usually 



detail which careful designing demands. 

 Candlesticks were also planned for the 

 use of the verticle dimension of the 

 candle, and it would be well in fitting 

 these old lamps and candelabra for elec- 

 tric lighting to make use of some meth- 

 od by which a lamp chimney may be 

 retained for effect in the case of a lamp 

 or some imitation of a candle in the 

 case of a candlestick or of candelabra. 

 Unless this be considered the result 

 from an artistic point of view is apt to 

 fall short of what it might be. 



As one might suppose, old lighting 

 fixtures from Europe are skillfully 

 adapted to modern use and their grace 

 contributes very largely to the beauty 

 of any interior in which they are placed. 

 Designers of the Renaissance planned 

 much the same lamps, candlesticks, 

 torches or candelabra for use in church 

 or palace, although we associate their 

 work with ecclesiastical rather than with 

 domestic usage. The torches or lanterns 

 which are still used in the ceremonies 

 of religion were once carried before 



German antler candle-light used for a modern 

 fixture 



placed; they are therefore almost always connected by wires civil as well as ecclesiastical dignitaries, and the few in 

 with the nearest "plug," or sometimes a mantel is provided use in American homes have been wired for lighting halls 

 with two or three such plugs, if the use of the mantel lamps and other large rooms of a somewhat formal nature, for 

 or candelabra has been planned for. Portable lamps and their use demands surroundings and other furnishings of an 

 smaller candlesticks are often arranged for electricity, and equally luxurious character. Candlesticks of Italian design 

 are provided with a socket, which may be attached to an and made of metal, wood or composition, are very useful 

 electric light plug anywhere, and the cost of this is very and are very easily fitted for practical use. The smaller ex- 

 moderate if the necessary wiring be done at the time the amples placed upon mantels or upon tables, where they are 

 entire house is being fitted for electric lighting. Those who used as reading lamps, are provided with "bandbox" shades 

 possess old candelabra and lamps and wish to use them for made of brocade, shirred silk or filet lace over a foundation 

 practical lighting should remember that their grace and of colored material, or else the shades are made of old 

 beauty may be easily injured by the alterations necessary to French prints pieced together with narrow galloons of gilt 

 make them useful under present conditions. The old de- or silver and the entire shade then lined with some light 



signers were men of keen 

 judgment and perception 

 where form and line were 

 concerned. Their lamps and 

 candlesticks were very care- 

 fully studied and just enough 

 decoration was used to 

 create the artistic effect 

 which the trained eye of the 

 designer saw was required. 

 Their candelabra and lamps 

 were often fitted with prisms 

 of glass, either plainly cut 

 or adorned with designs 

 more or less elaborate, but 

 quite as often lamps were de- 

 signed without these prisms, 

 and many a fine old lamp or 

 set of girandoles has been 

 spoiled by the unwise addi- 

 tion of these prisms where 

 their use was never intended. 

 Then again their lamps 

 were almost always used 

 with cut glass shades or 

 globes, sometimes very rich- 

 ly decorated, and designed 

 to allow for the projection of 

 the lamp chimney a few 

 inches above the shade to 

 give the correct balance of 



Antiques as lighting fixtures are appropriate for a room of this sort 



colored fabric to reflect the 

 light. Larger candlesticks 

 which are usually placed 

 upon the floor are often pro- 

 vided with an imitation, in 

 wood or porcelain, of a tall 

 candle, at the end of which 

 is placed an electric bulb of 

 ground glass similar in shape 

 to the flame of a candle. 

 These tall candlesticks, 

 which are usually of wood or 

 metal, gilded or silvered, are 

 placed at either side of man- 

 tels or doors or in other 

 places where their formal 

 character is in keeping with 

 the rest of the furnishings. 

 Old brackets or wall lights 

 of Italian design are also 

 used for electric lighting. 

 They are sometimes of 

 metal, but more frequently 

 of wood or composition 

 carved or modeled, and 

 elaborately colored and gild- 

 ed, and fitted with imitation 

 candles or small bead cov- 

 ered bulbs. It is very diffi- 

 cult to obtain more than one 

 or two of these bracket lights 



