Online Encyclopedia

GRINLING GIBBONS (1648-1721)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 936 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRINLING

GIBBONS (1648-1721)  ,
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English wood-carver, was born in 1648, according to some authorities of Dutch parents at
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Rotterdam, and according to others of English parents at
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London . By the former he is said to have come to London after the
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great fire in 1666 . He early displayed great cleverness and ingenuity in his
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art, on the strength of which he was recommended by Evelyn to Charles II., who employed him in the execution both of statuary and of ornamental
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carving in wood . In the early
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part of the 18th century he worked for
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Sir Christopher Wren . In statuary one of his
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principal
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works is a
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life-
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size
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bronze statue in the court of
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Whitehall, representing James II. in the dress of a
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Roman emperor, and he also designed the
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base of the statue of Charles I. at Charing
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Cross . It is, however, chiefly as a sculptor in wood that he is famous . He was employed to execute the ornamental carving for the
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chapel at Windsor, the foliage and festoons in the choir of St Paul's, the baptismal fonts in St James's, and an immense quantity of ornamental
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work at Burleigh,
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Chatsworth, and other aristocratic mansions . The finest of all his productions in this style is believed to be the ceiling which he devised for a
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room at Petworth . His subjects are chiefly birds, flowers, foliage, fruit and lace, and many of his works, for delicacy and elaboration of details, and truthfulness of imitation, have never been surpassed . He, however, some-times wasted his ingenuity on trifling subjects; many of his flowers used to move on their stems like their natural prototypes when shaken by a
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breeze . In 1714 Gibbons was appointed master carver in wood to George I . He died at London on the 3rd of August 1721 .

End of Article: GRINLING GIBBONS (1648-1721)
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JAMES GIBBONS (1834– )

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