The loose and airy, lightness of flowers: Grinling Gibbons and his carvings in wood

Lecture Details;

Perhaps the best sculptor in wood ever to lift a chisel, Grinling Gibbons rose from an obscure apprenticeship in Rotterdam to reach the height of his profession in England, collaborating with Wren and Vanbrugh, building a consistently substantial business for his atelier, and becoming King’s Carver. Much of his work survives in country houses, large churches and state apartments, and in this talk Justin describes Gibbons’s life and career, and discusses the techniques he used to create a convincing illusion of reality. Illustrated with overmantels, picture frames and architectural mouldings from many private and public collections, this talk makes a case for identifying Gibbons as a major artist.

About our Lecturer:

Formerly a senior academic manager at the Bodleian Library, Justin Reay is a tutor in Oxford, is a published historian, and among his impending works are an edition of Samuel Pepys’s naval papers in the Bodleian’s collections, and a study of the Admiralty buildings in London. He is frequently engaged as an enrichment speaker on art history for a European cruise line. Justin is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Historical Society, a Governor of the RNLI, a Founder Member of the Grinling Gibbons Society, and a member of The Arts Society Cheltenham

A Zoom link will be emailed to attendees on 9 January 2024