View source for Grinling Gibbons

{{short description|Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Grinling Gibbons
|image         = Grinling Gibbons by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg
|caption       = Grinling Gibbons by [[Godfrey Kneller]], c. 1690
|birth_name    =
|birth_date    = 4 April 1648
|birth_place   = [[Rotterdam]], [[Dutch Republic]]
|death_date    = {{Death date and age|1721|8|3|1648|4|4|df=y}}
|death_place   = 
|resting_place = [[St Paul's, Covent Garden]], London
|occupation    = Sculptor and wood carver
|known         = Works on  [[St Paul's Cathedral]]
|signature     =
}}
'''Grinling Gibbons''' (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and [[wood carver]] known for his work in England, including [[Windsor Castle]], the [[Royal Hospital Chelsea]] and [[Hampton Court Palace]], [[St Paul's Cathedral]] and other London churches, [[Petworth House]] and other country houses, [[Trinity College, Oxford]] and [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]. Gibbons was born to English parents in Holland, where he was educated.<ref>[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/carved-with-love-the-genius-of-british-woodwork-the-glorious-grinling-gibbons/ V&A exhibition information, accessed 18 January 2013]</ref>

His father was a merchant. Gibbons was a member of the [[Drapers' Company]] of London; he is widely regarded as the finest wood carver working in England, and the only one whose name is widely known among the general public. Most of his work is in lime (''[[Tilia]]'') wood, especially decorative [[Baroque]] garlands made up of [[still-life]] elements at about life size, made to frame mirrors and decorate the walls of churches and palaces, but he also produced furniture and small relief plaques with figurative scenes. He also worked in stone, mostly for churches. By the time he was established he led a large workshop, and the extent to which his personal hand appears in later work varies.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

==Life==
{{More citations needed|section|date=January 2023}}
[[File:Grinling Gibbons Hampton Court.JPG|thumb|left|220px|Detail from [[Hampton Court Palace]]]]
Very little is known about his early life. The name Grinling is formed from sections of two family names.

He was born in [[Rotterdam]], Netherlands, and it is sometimes thought that his father may have been the Englishman Samuel Gibbons, who worked under [[Inigo Jones]], but even two of his closest acquaintances, the portrait painter [[Thomas Murray (artist)|Thomas Murray]] and the diarist [[John Evelyn]], cannot agree on how he came to be introduced to King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]. He moved to [[Deptford, London|Deptford]], England, around 1667, and by 1693 had accepted commissions from the royal family and had been appointed as a master carver.<ref name=EB>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/233180/Grinling-Gibbons "Grinling Gibbon"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 30 September 2009.</ref> By 1680 he was already known as the "King's Carver", and carried out exquisite work for [[St Paul's Cathedral]], [[Windsor Castle]], and the [[Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex's]] house at [[Cassiobury House|Cassiobury]]. His carving was so fine that it was said a pot of carved flowers above his house in London would tremble from the motion of passing coaches.
[[Image:GrinlingGibbonsWrenLibraryCarving.jpg|thumb|170px|right|Bookcase carvings for the [[Wren Library]] at Trinity College, Cambridge]]

The diarist Evelyn first discovered Gibbons' talent by chance in 1671. Evelyn, from whom Gibbons rented a cottage near Evelyn's home in [[Sayes Court]], [[Deptford]] (today part of south-east London), wrote the following: "I saw the young man at his carving, by the light of a candle. I saw him to be engaged on a carved representation of [[Crucifixion (Tintoretto)|Tintoretto's ''Crucifixion'']], which he had in a frame of his own making." Later that same evening, Evelyn described what he had seen to Sir [[Christopher Wren]]. The ‘Crucifixion’ and frame now hang in the library in [[Dunham Massey Hall]] in Cheshire.<ref>national trust</ref> Wren and Evelyn then introduced him to King Charles II who gave him his first commission – still resting in the dining room of Windsor Castle.

Gibbons was a member of the [[Drapers' Company]] in London, being admitted by patrimony in 1672 and called to the livery in 1685. He was elected to the court and as a warden and then stood for election to be Master in 1718, 1719, and 1720, losing to an alderman each time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historicalautographs.co.uk/autographs/gibbons-grinling-18383/|title = GIBBONS, Grinling 18383}}</ref>

[[Horace Walpole]] later wrote about Gibbons: "There is no instance of a man before Gibbons who gave wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers, and chained together the various productions of the elements with the free disorder natural to each species."
[[File:GRINLING GIBBONS plaque.jpg|alt=This wreath of limewood carved by GRINLING GIBBONS (1648-1721) for St. Paul's Cathedral and presented by the Dean and Chapter in 1965 was erected in this church to the Glory of God and in memory of Grinling Gibbons and his wife Elizabeth who worshipped here and are buried in the crypt The wreath was dedicated by the Dean of St. Paul's on 3rd March 1965.|thumb|Plaque below a wreath of limewood in St Paul's Church, Covent Garden]]
Gibbons is buried at [[St Paul's, Covent Garden]], London, along with his wife Elizabeth. They are both buried in the crypt as attested by a plaque in the church below a wreath of limewood, carved by Gibbons and donated by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral in 1965. 

==Work==
[[File:Petworth House Grinling Gibbons.jpg|thumb|234px|left|Detail from Carved Room, [[Petworth House]]]]
Gibbons was employed by Wren to work on [[St Paul's Cathedral]] and later was appointed as master carver to [[George I of Great Britain|George I]]. He was also commissioned by [[William III of England|William III]] to create carvings, some of which adorn [[Kensington Palace]]. An example of his work can be seen in the Presence Chamber above the fireplace, which was originally intended to frame a portrait of Queen [[Mary II]] after her death in 1694. Also in the Orangery at Kensington, you can see some his pieces. Many fine examples of his work can still be seen in the churches around London, particularly the choir stalls and organ case of [[St Paul's Cathedral]]. Some of the finest Gibbons carvings accessible to the general public are those on display at the National Trust's [[Petworth House]] in West Sussex.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grinling Gibbons: The Carved Room at Petworth House |url=https://heni.com/talks/grinling-gibbons |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=HENI Talks |language=en}}</ref> At Petworth the Carved Room is host to a fine and extensive display of intricate wooden carvings by Gibbons.

His work can be seen in the London churches of [[St Michael Paternoster Royal]] and [[St James's Church, Piccadilly|St James, Piccadilly]], where he carved the wood [[reredos]] and marble font. The [[Church of England|Anglican]] dislike of painted [[altarpiece]]s{{cn|date=December 2024}} typically left a large space on the east wall that needed filling, which often gave Grinling's garlands a very prominent position, as here.
[[Image:Cloudesleyshovellmemorial.jpg|thumb|190px|right|Monument for [[Cloudesley Shovell]] in [[Westminster Abbey]]]]
In 1682 King Charles II commissioned Gibbons to carve a panel as a diplomatic gift for his political ally [[Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany]]. The ''Cosimo Panel'' is an allegory of art triumphing over hatred and turmoil and includes a medallion with a low relief of [[Pietro da Cortona]], Cosimo's favourite painter. The panel is housed in the [[Palazzo Pitti]] in Florence. It was displayed in the United Kingdom in the ''Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving'' exhibition held at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] from 22 October 1998 until 24 January 1999.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ashley-Smith |first=Jonathan |date=October 1998 |title=The Cosimo Panel |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/177440/26891_file.pdf |journal=V&A Conservation Journal |issue=29 |pages=4–6 |issn=0967-2273 |access-date=8 September 2017}}</ref>

[[Tobias Rustat]] commissioned three statues of Stuart kings from the workshop of Grinling Gibbons in the 1670s and '80s. These were the standing [[Statue of Charles II, Royal Hospital Chelsea|statue of Charles II]] at the [[Royal Hospital Chelsea]], an [[Equestrian statue of Charles II, Windsor Castle|equestrian statue of Charles II]] in [[Windsor Castle]] and the [[Statue of James II, Trafalgar Square|statue of James II]], now in Trafalgar Square. The last was commissioned for the [[Palace of Whitehall]], apparently at the same time as the standing Charles II, and the two works might have been intended as [[Pendant (art)|pendant]] pieces.<ref name="W-J">{{citation | last = Ward-Jackson | first = Philip | year = 2011 | title = Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster: Volume 1 | series = Public Sculpture of Britain | location = Liverpool | publisher = Liverpool University Press | pages = 291–3 | isbn =9781846316913}}</ref>

In 1685, the new king [[James II of England|James II]] asked Gibbons to carve a panel for another Italian ally, [[Francesco II d'Este, Duke of Modena]], brother to his second wife [[Mary of Modena]]. The ''Modena Panel'' is a ''[[memento mori]]'' for Charles II who died earlier that year and includes a funeral [[dirge]] from the play ''[[The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses]]'' by dramatist [[James Shirley]]: "There is no armour against fate; Death lays its icy hand on kings: Sceptre and crown must tumble down". It also features a medallion self-portrait of Gibbons. The panel is displayed in the [[Galleria Estense]] in [[Modena]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bob-easton.com/blog/2017/5307/ |title=Grinling Gibbons – Wait, There's More – at Modena |last=Easton |first=Bob |access-date=8 September 2017 |archive-date=8 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908111600/https://www.bob-easton.com/blog/2017/5307/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Church of St Peter and St Paul, Exton, Rutland]], has a fine marble tomb by Gibbons, dating from 1685, showing [[Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden]] with his fourth wife, [[Elizabeth Noel, Viscountess Campden|Elizabeth Bertie]], and carvings of his 19 children.<ref>{{cite web|title=TOMB OF VISCOUNT CAMPDEN AT EXTON CHURCH|url=http://www.wmf.org/project/tomb-viscount-campden-exton-church|publisher=World Monuments Fund}}</ref>
[[Image:Stoning of St Stephen - Grinling Gibbons c1680 (Nancy).jpg|thumb|190px|left|Stoning of St Stephen, c. 1680, in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]]]

Many experienced Flemish sculptors such as [[Artus Quellinus III]], [[John Nost]], Anthony Verhuke, [[Laurens van der Meulen]] and [[Peter van Dievoet]] also worked in Gibbon's London workshop as "servants", i.e. collaborators. As these Flemish artists were not trainees they were never entered in the Draper's records. In a document dated 1679 van der Meulen, Quellin and Verhuke are referred to as servants of Gibbons. Many of them left London and returned to their home country after the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688.<ref name=gibbons>[https://archive.org/details/histoiredelapein02neef David Esterly, ''Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving''], Harry N. Abrams, 30 April 2013, pp. 45, 176, 209, 219-224.</ref>

In the Gibbons workshop these Flemish artists worked on various commissions but the contributions of particular artists active in the workshop are not always identifiable.<ref>"Gibbons, Grinling", in ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', vol. 22, pp. 29–30 : "''The attribution of these works is complicated by the presence of the highly trained Flemish sculptors whom Gibbons had gathered into his workshop by the end of the 1670s. These included Arnold Quellin (the nephew of Artus Quellinus I), John Nost, and Anthony Verhuke, joined in the next decade by, among others, Laurens Vander Meulen and Pierre Van Dievoet. Their experience and skill as makers of statues may have exceeded his own''".</ref>  Laurens van der Meulen and Peter van Dievoet are known to have collaborated on the creation of the statue of King James II during their stay in the workshop of Gibbons.<ref name=wal>[[Horace Walpole]], ''Anecdotes of painting in England: with some account of the principal artists; and incidental notes on other arts; collected by the late Mr. [[George Vertue]]; and now digested and published from his original MSS. by Mr. [[Horace Walpole]]'', London, 1765, vol. III, p. 91 : "Gibbons had several disciples and workmen; [...]. Dievot of Brussels, and Laurens of Mechlin were principal journeymen — Vertue says they modelled and cast the statue I have mentioned in the [[Privy Garden of the Palace of Whitehall|privy-garden]]". According to David Green, in ''Grinling Gibbons, his work as carver and statuary'' (London, 1964), one Smooke said to Vertue that this statue "''was modelled and made by Laurence and Devoot (sic)''"; [[George Vertue]], ''Note Books'', ed. Walpole Society, Oxford, 1930–1947, vol. I, p. 82 : "Lawrence. Dyvoet. statuarys", and ''ibidem'' IV, 50: "Laurens a statuary of Mechlin ... Dievot a statuary of Brussels both these artists were in England and assisted Mr. Gibbons in statuary works in K. Charles 2d. and K. James 2d. time, they left England in the troubles of the Revolution and retird to their own country".</ref>

[[St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton]], has a monument by Gibbons to [[Henry Somerset, 1st Duke of Beaufort]] (1629–1700). He was buried alongside his ancestors in the Beaufort Chapel in [[St George's Chapel, Windsor]],<ref>[http://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/archives/archive-features/image-of-the-month/title1/the-beaufort-chantry.html St George's Chapel, Windsor: The Beaufort Chantry] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141124134109/http://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/archives/archive-features/image-of-the-month/title1/the-beaufort-chantry.html |date=24 November 2014 }}, 19 July 2013</ref><ref>For the inscription see Ashmole's Berkshire, iii. 163 {{harv|Seccombe|1898|p=245}}</ref> but the monument was moved to Badminton in 1878.{{sfn|Seccombe|1898|p=245}} The monument by Gibbons is now on the north side of the chancel at St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton, and consists of an [[effigy]] of the Duke in [[Order of the Garter|Garter]] robes, reclining on a sarcophagus and a plinth with relief of St George and the Dragon. There are twin [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] columns with embossed shafts, [[acanthus (ornament)|acanthus]] frieze, [[cornice]] with flaming urns, and the Duke's arms and supporters. At the top, 25&nbsp;ft from the ground, is a tasseled cushion supporting a [[coronet]]; on the plinth are full-length female figures of Justice and Truth. Above the Duke's effigy, parted curtains show the heavenly host with palms and crowns. The Latin inscription displays the names of his family and the many offices he held.<ref name="GreatBadminton">{{Cite web |url=http://www.badmintonchurch.org.uk/churches/great-badminton/ |title=St Michael and All Angels, Great Badminton webpage, 19 July 2013. |access-date=19 July 2013 |archive-date=4 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904021458/http://www.badmintonchurch.org.uk/churches/great-badminton |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Gibbons made the monument for Admiral Sir [[Cloudesley Shovell]], who was killed in the [[Scilly naval disaster of 1707]]. Shovell's large marble monument can be seen in the south choir aisle of [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name="westminster">{{cite web|url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/sir-clowdisley-shovell|title=Sir Clowdisley Shovell's tomb and memorial in Westminster Abbey|access-date=29 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016082704/http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/sir-clowdisley-shovell|archive-date=16 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Gibbons often carved [[pea]] pods in his work. There is a myth that Gibbons carved a closed pea pod at first, and then an open one when the work had been paid for.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Freeman |first=Laura |date=2021-08-13 |title=What a carve-up! The genius of Grinling Gibbons |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/what-a-carve-up-the-genius-of-grinling-gibbons-s6gcfxjsv |access-date=2024-09-16 |website=[[The Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Today (January 18) in London History – a piece of wood that could pass for lace |url=https://www.walks.com/podcast/today-january-18-in-london-history/ |access-date=2024-09-16 |website=London Walks}}</ref>

==Method of working==
Gibbons is believed to have invented the method of building up carvings through separate layers, each layer being nailed to the one beneath.<ref>''Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving'' p.145, [[David Esterly]], V&A Publications 2000 {{ISBN|1-85177-256-1}}
</ref>
The images below show a modern duplication of the technique.
{{Multiple image
| image1 = Gibbons 1.jpg| width=140px|none|caption1 = Base fitted with dowels
| image2 = Gibbons 2.jpg| caption2 = Layer 1
| image3 = Gibbons 3.jpg| caption3 = Layer 2
| image4 = Gibbons 4.jpg| caption4 = Layer 3
| image5 = Gibbons 5.jpg| caption5 = Layer 4
| image6 = Gibbons 6.jpg| caption6 = Final layer
}}
{{Clear}}

==Legacy==
Gibbons' association with Deptford is commemorated locally: Grinling Gibbons Primary School is in Clyde Street, near the site of Sayes Court in Deptford. Parts of New Cross and Deptford were in the "Grinling Gibbons" council ward from 1978 to 1998.<ref>[[London Borough of Lewisham#/Previous wards|London Borough of Lewisham]]</ref>

==List of works==
{{incomplete list|date=December 2022}}
* [[Statue of Charles II, Royal Hospital Chelsea|Statue of Charles II]], [[Chelsea, London]]
* Memorial to William Windham, [[St Margaret's Church, Felbrigg]], [[Norfolk]]
* Memorial to [[Sir Richard Head, 1st Baronet]], [[Rochester Cathedral]], [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]]

==Bibliography==
* [https://books.google.com/books/about/The_carved_cartoon_by_Austin_Clare.html?id=aAACAAAAQAAJ ''The Carved Cartoon: A Picture of the Past''], Austin Clare 1873
* ''The Work of Grinling Gibbons'', Geoffrey Beard, John Murray 1989 {{ISBN|0-7195-4728-8}}
* ''Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving'', [[David Esterly]], V&A Publications 2000 {{ISBN|1-85177-256-1}}
* ''The Lost Carving'' by David Esterly, 2012

;Attribution
{{DNB |last=Seccombe |first=Thomas |wstitle=Somerset, Henry |volume=53|pages=242–245}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Gibbons, Grinling}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbons, Grinling}}
[[Category:1648 births]]
[[Category:1721 deaths]]
[[Category:English sculptors]]
[[Category:English male sculptors]]
[[Category:English woodcarvers]]
[[Category:Dutch sculptors]]
[[Category:Dutch male sculptors]]
[[Category:Artists from Rotterdam]]
[[Category:17th-century English artists]]
[[Category:18th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Dutch Republic]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the Kingdom of England]]