Comments on: The Quest For Grinling Gibbons https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Mon, 14 Mar 2022 10:44:56 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Ros https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385477 Tue, 13 Jul 2021 23:27:44 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385477 Stunning photos, from stunning angles!

]]> By: Gillian Tindall https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385408 Tue, 13 Jul 2021 09:00:40 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385408 Your lovely photos much admired by someone who is herself a guide in St Pauls [when such activities are allowed again] but who says she has never studied the minutiae of the carvings till now in such rewarding detail.

]]> By: Jennifer Newbold https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385284 Mon, 12 Jul 2021 17:02:08 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385284 I recognised the quire stalls and organ case at St Paul’s, but your photos have shown them to me with new vision: if I had been standing in the church looking at the carvings, I might not have noticed the careful repairs. (I’d like to think I was more observant than that, but in St Paul’s there is so much to look at that the details get often lost!)

Thank you for another fine piece.

]]> By: Harriet Snow https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385276 Mon, 12 Jul 2021 15:08:50 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385276 This is such a treat. I hadn’t ever noticed GG’s rudimentary flowers and petals before. Sort of his personal shorthand. Also, all that evidence of ‘muscular’ dusting over the centuries. Maybe signalling the lack of ostrich feather dusters during those centuries.

]]> By: Cherub https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385259 Mon, 12 Jul 2021 11:37:29 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385259 His carvings are superb, Oxford University also has some wonderful pieces of his work. I studied English Archtecture and Furniture from 1603 – 1750 as part of my history degree and was fascinated by the work of Gibbons, Hawksmoor, Wren and the theatrical Vanbrugh.

]]> By: David Antscherl https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385255 Mon, 12 Jul 2021 11:18:30 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385255 This appreciation of two master woodcarvers’ work is much appreciated. That Mr. Wedderburn is also quite literally preparing the ground for future woodcarvers is brilliant.

Thank you for today’s story!

]]> By: Kelly Holman https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385247 Mon, 12 Jul 2021 09:46:50 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385247 A wonderful story of two master woodcarvers. Thank you.

]]> By: Peter Holford https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385238 Mon, 12 Jul 2021 07:58:58 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385238 In a quest for one of my forebears I went to the church of St James, Piccadilly some years ago. It is a church by Wren and contains some of the most remarkable work by Gibbons. The carvings are some of his most delicate and also includes a beautiful marble font which is not his normal medium of wood. I guess that being adjacent to St James’s Palace the spec and funding may have required a very superior work of art. He delivered superbly.

]]> By: Amanda https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385231 Mon, 12 Jul 2021 06:56:14 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385231 Recognising Grinling Gibbons intricate adornments in grand houses or places of worship gives me the the same satisfaction as recognising a Hawksmoor church in passing.

In top Photo 4 the christening font is just inside the church in its own gated chapel.
While there, the verger treated our history group to the really fascinating story behind the font’s ornately carved lid and its cost at the time.
So heavy, that for any baptism, it is lifted from the marble stand by a pulley on the ceiling, hopefully for all solemnly gathered below it appears a sturdy mechanism.

]]> By: Wendy https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/12/the-quest-for-grinling-gibbons/#comment-1385230 Mon, 12 Jul 2021 06:55:09 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=183956#comment-1385230 Until very recently I lived a hop and a skip from this workshop and would often peer through the window in awe and wonder, not quite able to see through clearly so it is wonderful to read about and see photos. Amazing talent and so utterly beautiful.

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