John Gibson was a British sculptor, who represented Neoclassicism movement. He was mostly known for his bas-relief, monumental and portrait statuary. John's aim was always purity of character and beauty of form. His subjects were gleaned from the free actions of the Italian people, noticed on his walks, and afterwards given such mythological names, as best fitted them.
Background
John Gibson was born on June 19, 1790 in Conwy, Wales, United Kingdom. He was a son of William Gibson, a market gardener, and Jane Gibson. The family settled down in Liverpool, when John was nine years old.
To his mother, whom he described as ruling his father and all the family, John owed, like many other great men, the energy and determination, which carried him over every obstacle.
Education
In his early years, John attended local school in Liverpool, United Kingdom. At the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed to a firm of cabinet-makers, but soon abandoned his studies and became a pupil of Samuel and Thomas Franceys, who were monumental masons. Some time later, Gibson also studied anatomy.
Also, in October, 1817, the sculptor went to Rome, where he learned the rules and technicalities of art. In Rome, John's mentors included Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Career
The first works, which manifested Gibson's talent, were "Sleeping Shepherd Boy", "Psyche carried by the Zephyrs" and others. These were the works, which brought him great fame not only in Italy, but also in his native country.
John spent almost all his life in Rome, but continued to send his works to England, where all of them were well-received. In 1844, the sculptor arrived there in order to exhibit his statue of Huskisson. After that, he visited England almost every year.
Challenging the Neoclassical tenor of the whiteness of antique sculpture, Gibson put into practice new theories about the ancient Greek practice of painting skin colour and facial details onto carved marble figures. He introduced colour onto a statue of Queen Victoria, done for Liverpool in 1847, tinting only the diadem, sandals and robe hem.
In 1862, Gibson exhibited his work "Tinted Venus" in London, the work, which caused a sensation.
Monument to Lady Leicester. Angel carrying infant and leading mother to heaven
Hylas Surprised by the Naiades
John Philip Kemble
Sleeping Shepherd Boy
Pandora
The Marriage of Psyche and Celestrial Love
Bust of William Bewick
Nymph untying her sandal
Walter Savage Landor
The Meeting of Hero and Leander
Psyche carried by the Zephyrs
William Huskisson
Venus
Queen Victoria Supported by Justice and Clemency
sketch
Psyche borne by a Zephyr
A putto pursuing a butterfly
Sappho
William Huskisson
William Roscoe
William Van Mildert
Membership
Royal Academy of Arts
,
United Kingdom
1836
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
"Gibson dressed with extraordinary slovenliness and indifference to clothes, had no collar, I think, and evidently did not know what he had one. Everything about him bespoke the utmost unconsciousness and democratic plainness of life." — William Dean Howells, an American realist novelist, literary critic and playwright
Connections
Throughout most of his time in Rome, Gibson had a relationship with the Welsh artist Penry Williams.
The Biography of John Gibson, Sculptor, Rome
This biography of John Gibson is largely an autobiography, being entirely based upon his own notes and letters and, as far as possible, in his own words.