Grinling Gibbons: aspects of his style and technique

Magazine Antiques, Oct, 1998 by Miriam Kramer

Gibbons also introduced a curvilinear rhythm in his work that was unknown before in England, where rigid linear forms had been the norm for several hundred years. Graceful garlands of flowers, such as those at Petworth House and Windsor Castle, became part of Gibbons's trademark. The double garland surrounding the portraits of the duke and duchess of Somerset at Petworth represents the height of his skills (see Pl. VI).

It is important to remember that Gibbons was not working in a vacuum but was part of a team of decorators called upon to embellish grand spaces. Gibbons and his colleagues were not considered artists but tradesmen.(5) Architects or their draftsmen prepared drawings for their patrons, which were added to by Gibbons and his team (see Pls. V, VIII, X). Usually only half the decorative scheme needed to be depicted on the drawing because the finished product was to be symmetrical. The drawing in Plate VIII shows two schemes, varying in both shape and proportion.

After a scheme was approved, it was drawn full size onto tracing paper (again only half), and then transferred by pouncing onto the wood. The carving was carried out under Gibbons's direction by the workers in his employ Like master painters of the day, who had different elements, such as drapery, landscape, or figures, painted by their assistants, Gibbons had carvers who specialized in elements such as musical instruments or flowering plants or even something as specific as tulips. This almost assembly-line process meant that long stretches of carved friezes and swags could be created relatively quickly and economically.

As the architect generally dealt directly with the patron, it was his name that was usually praised in contemporary accounts of the building and decoration of great English country houses. The elaborately carved embellishments were often simply ascribed to a nameless "carver," which meant that Gibbons did not generally receive the public recognition he felt he deserved. In this light it is interesting to consider the question of whether he signed his work. The only indisputable instance of his doing so is the Cosimo panel, which is clearly inscribed "G*Gibbons*Invent." However, he may also have incorporated his initials into the room decorations of two of his important commissions: the Carved Room at Petworth(6) and the frieze in the King's Great Bed-chamber at Hampton Court.(7) His monogram of intertwined Gs also appears on the back of several of his relief panels.

Historians over the centuries have been puzzled by how Gibbons achieved such a polished look in his work, since sandpaper was not invented until the nineteenth century. David Easterly, a wood carver, almost accidentally discovered that Gibbons achieved this finish by rubbing the wood with a common Dutch weed, Equisetum hyemale, which is similar in appearance to bamboo and is known as horsetail or scouring rush. Nearly imperceptible marks on Gibbons's carvings correspond to the small ridges on the plant.(8)