Grinling Gibbons

RINLINGGIBBONSANDTHE ARTOFCARVINGDAVID ESTERLY

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V&A Publications

ONTENTSCPreface 6Foreword 7

Acknowledgements 8

Introduction 9

PART I ORIGINS 15

1. ‘In an Obscure Place ... by Meere Accident’ 16

2. The Years before Deptford 34

3. A New Discovery, a New Style 52

PART II THE FORMS OF GIBBONS’S CARVING 67

4. The Carved Surround 681675–1682 701683–1686 901687–1711 105

5. The Trophy 130

6. Embellishment 154

PART III GIBBONS’S TECHNIQUES 173

7. Form Follows Workshop 174

8. Making a Gibbons Carving 188

Conclusion 206

Notes 214

Chronology of Grinling Gibbons’s Life 218

Select Bibliography 220

Index 221