James Gibbs

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For other people named James Gibbs, see James Gibbs (disambiguation).

James Gibbs
Ditchley House
Wimpole Hall
, the name demonstrating the popularity of his books.

James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of

Cambridge University
.

Gibbs very privately was a

Whigs, led by Lord Burlington and Colen Campbell, a fellow Scot who developed a rivalry with Gibbs. Gibbs' professional Italian training under the Baroque master Carlo Fontana also set him uniquely apart from the Palladian school.[1] However, despite being unfashionable, he gained a number of Tory patrons and clients, and became hugely influential through his published works, which became popular as pattern books for architecture. The naming of the Gibbs surround
for doors and windows, which he certainly did not invent, testifies to this influence.

His architectural style did incorporate Palladian elements, as well as forms from Italian Baroque and Inigo Jones (1573–1652), but was most strongly influenced by the work of Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723), who was an early supporter of Gibbs. Overall, Gibbs was an individual who formed his own style independently of current fashions. Architectural historian John Summerson describes his work as the fulfilment of Wren's architectural ideas, which were not fully developed in his own buildings.[2] Despite the influence of his books, Gibbs, as a stylistic outsider, had little effect on the later direction of British architecture, which saw the rise of Neoclassicism shortly after his death.

Biography

Background and education

James Gibbs was born on 23 December 1682 in Fittysmire,

Catholic priesthood but had second thoughts.[6] By the end of 1704 he was studying architecture under Carlo Fontana;[7] he was also taught by Pietro Francesco Garroli, professor of perspective at the Accademia di San Luca.[8] While in Rome Gibbs met John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont, who attempted to persuade him to move to Ireland.[8] He moved to London in November 1708;[8] his return was probably due to the terminal illness of his half-brother William, who died before James reached Britain.[9]

Career

Still intending to take up the offer of work in Ireland, he had been befriended by

Wimpole Hall) and James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (for whom he would be one of the architects to work at Cannons from 1715 to 1719[10]). Gibbs was one of the sixty founder members of Godfrey Kneller's Academy of Painting, founded in 1711.[11] In August 1713 Gibbs discovered that William Dickinson was resigning as architect from the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches; the commissioners included Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Thomas Archer. With the backing of, amongst others, the Earl of Mar and Sir Christopher Wren, Gibbs was appointed architect to the commission on 18 November 1713,[12] where he would have worked with Nicholas Hawksmoor, his fellow architect to the commission. But a combination of events would ensure Gibbs was deprived of his place as architect to the commission by December 1715: Queen Anne had died and a Whig government had replaced the Tories; and the failure of the 1715 Jacobite rising that was supported by the Earl of Mar were all factors.[12] Still he was able to complete one church, St Mary-le-Strand, that he described as "the first publick (sic) building I was employed in after my arrival from Italy; which being situated in a very publick place, the Commissioners... spar'd no cost to beautify".[12] On 18 December 1716 Gibbs joined the "Vandykes clubb" (sic), also called the Club of St Luke for "Virtuosi in London". Fellow architects who were members included William Kent and William Talman; other notable members with whom Gibbs would later work included the garden designer Charles Bridgeman and the sculptor John Michael Rysbrack, who sculpted many of the memorials Gibbs designed.[13] In March 1721 Charles Bridgeman, James Thornhill, John Wootton and Gibbs were all travelling together from London to Wimpole Hall where they were all working for Edward Harley, the Earl of Oxford; Thornhill recalled that they drank Harley's "healths over and over, as well in our civil as bacchanalian hours" and talked "of building, pictures and may be towards the close of politics or religion".[14]

St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, is the prototype of many New England churches.

In 1720 Gibbs was invited along with other architects to enter a competition to design a new church to replace the dilapidated church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. He won, and on 24 November 1720 he was appointed architect of the new church,

Senate House
, 110 by 50 feet (34 by 15 m), the northern of the two east wings, was built. It was finished in 1730.

By 1723 Gibbs was rich enough to open an account at

Oxford University an honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1749 recognition of the completion of the Radcliffe Camera.[4]

Collections

A list of the nearly 700 books in his library is preserved in the

Robert Wood's The ruins of Palmyra. Gibbs is also known to have owned at least 117 paintings, including works by Canaletto, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Sebastiano Ricci, Antoine Watteau and Willem van de Velde the Younger.[27] Sculptures owned by Gibbs included a bust of Flora by François Girardon, a bust of Matthew Prior by Antoine Coysevox and busts of Alexander Pope and Gibbs by Rysbrack.[27]

Death and will

Gibb's memorial, St Marylebone Parish Church
James Gibbs by John Michael Williams c.1737–40

By 1743 Gibbs, who was fond of wine and food, was described as "corpulent".

kidney stones and had lost weight and was in pain. He remained until September when he returned to London.[29] Gibbs never married.[30] He died in his London house on the corner of Wimpole Street and Henrietta Street on 5 August 1754 and was buried in St Marylebone Parish Church, and a modest wall tablet was erected with this inscription:[31][a]

Underneath lye the Remains of JAMES
GIBBS Esqr. whose Skill in Architecture
appears by his Printed Works as well
as the Buildings directed by him,
Among other Legacys & Charitys
He left One Hundred Pounds towards
Enlarging this Church
He died Augt. 5th. 1754.
Aged 71.

In his will made on 9 May 1754, Gibbs left £1000, his

Dr. William King, St Bartholomew's Hospital and the Foundling Hospital. The Trustees of Radcliffe Camera were given "all my printed books, Books of Architecture books of prints and drawings books of maps and a pair of globes with leather covers to be placed ... in the library... of which I was architect ... next to my Bustoe".[33]

The Palazzo Branconio dall'Aquila, Rome, inspiration for Gibbs' St Mary le Strand

Architecture

Early works

Mar attached Gibbs' name among the list of architects to be responsible for the new churches to be built under the

Vitruvius Britannicus (1715), which promoted the Palladian style, also contains unfavourable comments regarding Carlo Fontana and St Mary-le-Strand.[36] Campbell went on to replace Gibbs as the architect of Burlington House
around 1717, where the latter had designed the offices and colonnades for the young Lord Burlington.

Design for the pavilions at Stowe; the stone pyramidal roof is no longer atop either pavilion

Other early designs include the house of Cannons, Middlesex (1716–20), for James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, and the tower of Wren's St Clement Danes (1719).[37] At Twickenham he designed the pavilion at Orleans House, called the Octagon Room, for a Scottish patron, James Johnston (1655–1737) former Secretary of State for Scotland, about 1720.[38] It is the only part of the house and grounds that has survived.

Country houses

Gibbs' mature style emerges in the early 1720s, with the house of

The Landmark Trust. Other garden buildings at Stowe include the pair of "Boycott Pavilions", which were altered by Giovanni Battista Borra in 1754 to replace the pyramidal stone roofs with more conventional domes.[40]

Churches

Gibbs designed one church for the

Anglican worship, across Britain and around the world.[41]

At the same time, Gibbs designed a

Michael Rysbrack. In 1733 Gibbs was commissioned by Lord Foley to adapt the chapel from Cannons House (Gibbs was one of the architects involved in designing Cannons), as the parish church at Great Witley.[45]

St Bartholomew's Hospital

parable of the good Samaritan. The other blocks contained wards. The south block was built from 1735 to 1740 (demolished 1937). the west block was built from 1743 to 1753; it was delayed due to the War of the Austrian Succession
. The east block was built 1758–68 to Gibbs' design.

Universities

Fellows' Building, King's College, Cambridge

Gibbs worked at both

Senate House at Cambridge.[48] The Fellows' Building at King's College (1724–30) is his work entirely. A simple composition, similar in style to his houses, the building is enlivened by a central feature incorporating an arch, within a doric portal, and a Diocletian window, all under a pediment. This mannerist composition of features from Wren and Palladio is an example of Gibbs' more adventurous Italian style.[43]

More adventurous still was Gibbs' last major work, the

Baldassarre Longhena. The building incorporates unexpected vertical alignments: for instance, the ribs of the dome do not line up with the columns of the drum, but lie in between, creating a rhythmically complex composition.[49]

Gibbs' designs for three chimney pieces plate 91 from A Book of Architecture

Published works

Gibbs published the first edition of A Book of Architecture, containing designs of buildings and ornaments in 1728, dedicated to one of his patrons

Mount Airy, Richmond County, Virginia, and perhaps also for the floorplan of Drayton Hall in Charleston County, South Carolina.[51]

Other published works by Gibbs include The Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture (1732), which explained how to draw the Classical orders and related details and was used well into the 19th century,[49] and Bibliotheca Radcliviana subtitled A Short Description of the Radcliffe Library Oxford (1747) to celebrate the Radcliffe Camera, including a list of all the craftsmen employed in the building's construction as well as twenty-one plates.[52] In 1752 he published a two-volume translation of the Latin book De Rebus Emanuelis by a 16th-century Portuguese Bishop Jerome Osorio da Fonseca; his English title was The History of the Portuguese during the Reign of Emanuel. It is a history book with accounts of warfare, voyages of discovery from Africa to China (including descriptions of the religious beliefs of these countries) and also the initial colonisation of Brazil.[53]

List of architectural works

The following list includes Gibbs' most significant works.[54]

Secular works

  • Radcliffe Camera, Oxford University
    Radcliffe Camera, Oxford University
  • Interior, Radcliffe Camera, Oxford University
    Interior, Radcliffe Camera, Oxford University
  • Senate House, Cambridge
    Senate House, Cambridge
  • Detail of pediment, Senate House, Cambridge
    Detail of pediment, Senate House, Cambridge
  • East front, Fellows' Building, King's College Cambridge
    East front, Fellows' Building, King's College Cambridge
  • Great Hall, St Bartholomew's Hospital
    Great Hall, St Bartholomew's Hospital
  • Staircase with Hogarth mural paintings, St Bartholomew's Hospital
    Staircase with Hogarth mural paintings, St Bartholomew's Hospital
  • Centre of east block, St Bartholomew's Hospital
    Centre of east block, St Bartholomew's Hospital

Ecclesiastical works

  • West front, St Mary le Strand
    West front, St Mary le Strand
  • East front, St Mary le Strand
    East front, St Mary le Strand
  • Interior looking east, St Mary le Strand
    Interior looking east, St Mary le Strand
  • Steeple, St Clement Danes
    Steeple, St Clement Danes
  • West front, St Martin-in-the-Fields
    West front, St Martin-in-the-Fields
  • Interior looking west, St Martin-in-the-Fields
    Interior looking west, St Martin-in-the-Fields
  • The font, St Martin-in-the-Fields
    The font, St Martin-in-the-Fields
  • St Peter Vere Street
    St Peter Vere Street
  • The nave, Derby Cathedral
    The nave, Derby Cathedral
  • St Michael and All Saints, Great Witley
    St Michael and All Saints, Great Witley
  • Looking east, St Michael and All Saints, Great Witley
    Looking east, St Michael and All Saints, Great Witley
  • Chapel, Sir William Turner's Almshouses, Kirkleatham
    Chapel, Sir William Turner's Almshouses, Kirkleatham
  • Mausoleum on right, St Cuthberts Kirkleatham
    Mausoleum on right, St Cuthberts Kirkleatham
  • Mausoleum, St Cuthberts Kirkleatham
    Mausoleum, St Cuthberts Kirkleatham
  • South front, St Mary, Patshull
    South front, St Mary, Patshull
  • Chandos mausoleum, St Lawrence, Little Stanmore
    Chandos mausoleum, St Lawrence, Little Stanmore

Church memorials

  • Edward Colston's Monument, All Saints' Church, Bristol
    Edward Colston's Monument, All Saints' Church, Bristol

London houses

  • Burlington House forecourt, showing Gibbs' wings and a colonnade
    Burlington House forecourt, showing Gibbs' wings and a colonnade
  • Burlington House, one of the colonnades
    Burlington House, one of the colonnades
  • Drawing room from 11 Henrietta Street, now in V&A Museum
    Drawing room from 11 Henrietta Street, now in V&A Museum

New country houses

  • Sudbrook House
    Sudbrook House
  • Ditchley House
    Ditchley House
  • Cannons House
    Cannons House
  • Antony House, Cornwall
    Antony House, Cornwall
  • Eastern Boycott Pavilion, 1728, Stowe House, dome altered; it used to have a spire like the Turner Mausoleum
    Eastern Boycott Pavilion, 1728, Stowe House, dome altered; it used to have a spire like the Turner Mausoleum
  • The Fane of Pastoral Poetry, 1729, Stowe House
    The Fane of Pastoral Poetry, 1729, Stowe House
  • Palladian bridge, 1738, Stowe House, based on the bridge at Wilton House
    Palladian bridge, 1738, Stowe House, based on the bridge at Wilton House
  • Ruined Temple of Friendship, 1739, Stowe House
    Ruined Temple of Friendship, 1739, Stowe House
  • Gothic Temple, 1748, Stowe House
    Gothic Temple, 1748, Stowe House
  • Houghton Hall, showing two of Gibbs' domes
    Houghton Hall, showing two of Gibbs' domes
  • Kelmarsh Hall
    Kelmarsh Hall
  • Catton Hall
    Catton Hall
  • Patshull Hall
    Patshull Hall
  • Bank Hall, Warrington
    Bank Hall, Warrington

Alterations to existing country houses

  • Orleans House, Gibbs' Octagon on the left
    Orleans House, Gibbs' Octagon on the left
  • Octagon, Orleans House
    Octagon, Orleans House
  • Interior of the Octagon, Orleans House
    Interior of the Octagon, Orleans House
  • Wimpole Hall, Gibbs' Library on the right
    Wimpole Hall, Gibbs' Library on the right
  • The Chapel, Wimpole Hall
    The Chapel, Wimpole Hall
  • Badminton House, north front as remodelled by Gibbs
    Badminton House, north front as remodelled by Gibbs

,

See also

Notes

  1. ^ His home on Henrietta Street became the site of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1910.[32]

References

  1. ^ Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840, 3rd ed. 1995, s.v. "Gibbs, James".
  2. ^ Summerson, pp.330, 333
  3. ^ Friedman, p.3
  4. ^ a b Friedman, p.2
  5. ^ a b Friedman, p.4
  6. ^ a b Friedman, p.5
  7. ^ Friedman, p.6
  8. ^ a b c d Friedman, p.7
  9. ^ Little, p.25
  10. ^ Friedman, p.13
  11. ^ Friedman, p.20
  12. ^ a b c Friedman, p.10
  13. ^ Friedman, p.21
  14. ^ Friedman, p.23
  15. ISBN 1-86077-323-0
  16. ^ Page 45, 'Anecdotes of Painting in England' 1771
  17. ^ pages 27 to 29, the Architectural Drawings Collection of King's College, Cambridge, Allan Doig, 1979, Avebury Publishing
  18. ^ a b Friedman, p.225
  19. ^ Friedman, p.15
  20. ^ a b Friedman, p.214
  21. ^ a b c Friedman, p.16
  22. ^ Friedman, p.222
  23. ^ Friedman, p.22
  24. ^ page xii, The Building Accounts of the Radcliffe Camera, S.G. Gillam, 1958, Oxford University Press
  25. ^ page xviii, The Building Accounts of the Radcliffe Camera, S.G. Gillam, 1958, Oxford University Press
  26. ^ Little, p.164
  27. ^ a b Little, p.23
  28. ^ Little, p.168
  29. ^ Friedman, p.18
  30. ^ Little, p.163
  31. ^ "Marylebone Pages 242-279 The Environs of London: Volume 3, County of Middlesex. Originally published by T Cadell and W Davies, London, 1795". British History Online. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  32. PMID 15640428
    .
  33. ^ Friedman, pp.17–20
  34. ^ Summerson, p.280
  35. ^ Summerson, p.286
  36. ^ a b Summerson, p.324
  37. ^ Summerson, p.325
  38. ^ Illustrated in Gibbs, A Book of Architecture plate 71: Colvin 1995.
  39. ^ a b Summerson, p.326
  40. ^ Colvin 1995.
  41. ^ a b Summerson, p.327
  42. ^ Summerson, p.328
  43. ^ a b c d Summerson, p.330
  44. ^ Colvin 1995
  45. ^ Page 325-6, Terry Friedman, James Gibbs, 1984, Yale University Press
  46. ^ Friedman, p.213
  47. ^ "Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer. 25 June 1726 "William Gibbs, King's Surveyor" has provided a scheme for rebuilding St Bartholomew's Hospital". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  48. ^ T. P. Hudson, "James Gibbs's Design for University Buildings at Cambridge", The Burlington Magazine 114 (1972): 844.
  49. ^ a b c d Summerson, p.333
  50. ISBN 0-521-38551-2
  51. ^ The Center for Palladian Studies in America, Inc., "Palladio and Patternbooks in Colonial America."[permanent dead link]
  52. ^ Little, p.36
  53. ^ Little, p.155
  54. ^ Based on Friedman, pp.290–326
  55. ^ Victoria County History of Staffordshire, Vol 20, 165–7

Bibliography

External links

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