Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue
Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721), Woodcarver and sculptor
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Self portraits
c.1675
Carved medallion, with his own hair. Chatsworth (illus. D. Esterly, Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1998, p 104).
c.1680
Carved medallion, bewigged self portrait, in the ‘Modena panel’. Museo Estense, Modena (illus. D. Esterly, Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1998, p 149).
c.1685?
Marble self-portrait bust. Untraced. Seen in Gibbons’s posthumous sale in November 1722 by Vertue: ‘Mr Grinlin Gibbons his own bust cutt in marble. finely done especially in the face. The wigg & lace cravat monstruously large’ (G. Vertue, Notebooks, Wal. Soc., XXII, 1934, p 10). Perhaps that described by ‘Mr Johnson’ in Nahum Tate’s Poems by Several Hands, 1685, ‘On the sight and Sculpture of Mr Gibbon’s own most excellent Head, in Marble’.
By other artists
c.1686
Drawing by John Medina, bust-length, signed, and inscribed by Vertue: J. Medina Eques ad vivum delin. … British Museum (1852-2-14-375; E. Croft-Murray & P. Hulton, British Museum, Catalogue of British Drawings: XVI and XVII centuries, 1960, p 447; D. Esterly, Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1998, p 27).
c.1690
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see under NPG 2925.
c.1691
Painting by John Closterman, half-length leaning on a carved pedestal, his wife seated by him holding a string of pearls. Untraced (M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, no.38). Engraved J. Smith 1691 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 106). An unattributed red chalk copy in the Scottish NPG (PG 358); a copy (in reverse to Smith’s engraving) painted on panel, sold Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 26 November 1984, lot 13 as Herman van der Mijn.
A painting by Thomas Hudson appeared in his sale, 28 February 1785, lot 15 (E. G. Miles, Thomas Hudson: Portraitist to the British Establishment, University Microfilms, 1976, II, no.82).
Posthumous
Nineteenth-century statues of Gibbons include those by J. B. Philip c.1866-72 in the frieze on the podium of the Albert Memorial, and by W. S. Frith c.1880 on the Cromwell Road façade of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Doubtful Portraits
‘Gibbons in gratuity to Mr Evelyn. presented him with his own head carvd in wood by himself. which Mr Evelyn put over his street door at his house in Dover Street. as a signal - where it was for 20 years at least’ (G. Vertue, Notebooks, Wal. Soc., XXVI, 1938, p 34). Untraced. More probably a bust of Evelyn.
A bust at the back of Lely’s Self-portrait with Hugh May, c.1673 (private collection; illus. O. Millar, Sir Peter Lely, exhibition catalogue, NPG, 1978, no.51) sometimes identified as a Gibbons self portrait (e.g. in R. B. Beckett, Lely, 1951, no.293), presents an unconvincing likeness.
This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.
c.1675
Carved medallion, with his own hair. Chatsworth (illus. D. Esterly, Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1998, p 104).
c.1680
Carved medallion, bewigged self portrait, in the ‘Modena panel’. Museo Estense, Modena (illus. D. Esterly, Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1998, p 149).
c.1685?
Marble self-portrait bust. Untraced. Seen in Gibbons’s posthumous sale in November 1722 by Vertue: ‘Mr Grinlin Gibbons his own bust cutt in marble. finely done especially in the face. The wigg & lace cravat monstruously large’ (G. Vertue, Notebooks, Wal. Soc., XXII, 1934, p 10). Perhaps that described by ‘Mr Johnson’ in Nahum Tate’s Poems by Several Hands, 1685, ‘On the sight and Sculpture of Mr Gibbon’s own most excellent Head, in Marble’.
By other artists
c.1686
Drawing by John Medina, bust-length, signed, and inscribed by Vertue: J. Medina Eques ad vivum delin. … British Museum (1852-2-14-375; E. Croft-Murray & P. Hulton, British Museum, Catalogue of British Drawings: XVI and XVII centuries, 1960, p 447; D. Esterly, Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1998, p 27).
c.1690
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see under NPG 2925.
c.1691
Painting by John Closterman, half-length leaning on a carved pedestal, his wife seated by him holding a string of pearls. Untraced (M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, no.38). Engraved J. Smith 1691 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 106). An unattributed red chalk copy in the Scottish NPG (PG 358); a copy (in reverse to Smith’s engraving) painted on panel, sold Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 26 November 1984, lot 13 as Herman van der Mijn.
A painting by Thomas Hudson appeared in his sale, 28 February 1785, lot 15 (E. G. Miles, Thomas Hudson: Portraitist to the British Establishment, University Microfilms, 1976, II, no.82).
Posthumous
Nineteenth-century statues of Gibbons include those by J. B. Philip c.1866-72 in the frieze on the podium of the Albert Memorial, and by W. S. Frith c.1880 on the Cromwell Road façade of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Doubtful Portraits
‘Gibbons in gratuity to Mr Evelyn. presented him with his own head carvd in wood by himself. which Mr Evelyn put over his street door at his house in Dover Street. as a signal - where it was for 20 years at least’ (G. Vertue, Notebooks, Wal. Soc., XXVI, 1938, p 34). Untraced. More probably a bust of Evelyn.
A bust at the back of Lely’s Self-portrait with Hugh May, c.1673 (private collection; illus. O. Millar, Sir Peter Lely, exhibition catalogue, NPG, 1978, no.51) sometimes identified as a Gibbons self portrait (e.g. in R. B. Beckett, Lely, 1951, no.293), presents an unconvincing likeness.
This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.