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The School of Grinling Gibbons and its Effects on the Design of Early American Colonial FurnitureHistory of Early American Colonial Furniture

 

The work upon which Grinling Gibbons was engaged when discovered by the ingenious Mr Evelyn was a carving from a large painting of the Crucifixion by Tintoretto.

Carvings of this character had been produced in Italy for over a century, and the fashion had been adopted in Holland during her great period of prosperity at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The exterior of classic buildings in that country, as in Italy, were frequently adorned with drops and wreaths carved in marble and in stone, and interiors were decorated with paintings of the same subjects; from such designs in his native land Gibbons may have obtained his inspirations. Sir Christopher Wren, during his visits to Paris, would have seen the elaborate use of applied woodcarvings of the school of Louis XIV. But whatever the source from which the idea of employing this particular style of carving for interior decoration was derived, and whether or not the designs were inspired by that great architect, the results obtained possess so much originality, owing to the naturalistic treatment of the objects portrayed, that we are justified in claiming this class of work as one of the most. distinctive features of English decoration.

To assume that the numerous examples which exist in city churches, in public halls, and in the great country-houses of England are all attributable to the hand of Gibbons would be as unreasonable as to suppose that the fur­niture and indeed early American Colonial furniture of the third quarter of the eighteenth century was all the personal work of Chippendale; the form of decoration which he had introduced became the fashion, and numerous skilled craftsmen imitated his style. In their ranks were some of the foreigners whom religious persecutions on the Continent were driving to this country, but mostly they appear to have been English, and the names of some remain, notably William Watson (responsible for the wonderful decorative carvings at Chatsworth), Lobb, Phillips, Davis and Selden.

Of the class of ornament most typical of this school, is that which Celia Fiennes describes in her Diary as: "Ye” finest carved wood in fruitages, herbages, gumms, beastes, fowles, etc., very thin and fine all in white wood without paint or varnish. Ye several sorts of things thus carved exceeding natural all round." To such an extent was this class of design developed that it became a recognized type of ornament and was indiscriminately used for the decoration of mansions or church. But another style existed, examples of which are more scarce, namely of subjects designed either to specially illustrate the purpose for which the room was intended to be used, or the occupation of the owner. Of the former kind, one of the most remarkable specimens is to be found at the offices of the New River Water Company, where fish, fishing nets and tackle are ingeniously grouped; another interesting example, probably also by Gibbons (see page 129), is in the collection and illustrates the prow of a ship and other naval attributes. Military trophies are scarce, possi­bly because during the reigns of Charles II and James II there had been few opportunities of obtaining distinction in warfare; the work of Gibbons on the chimney-piece of the drawing-room of the Governor's House at Chelsea Hospital is always regarded as the masterpiece of this style; somewhat simi­lar in composition are the picture frame and the pendant shown on pages 129 and 13 o respectively. The inspiration for these designs can be traced to Ancient Rome, and the same class of subject was adopted for the painted panels at Hampton Court; other instances are to be met with on seventeenth century classic buildings both in France and Holland.

Mantelpiece with Carvings by Grinling Gibbons

Most frequently these decorative carvings were executed in limewood, the use of oak being generally regarded as denoting the earlier work of the period; probably the specimen on page 127, made from the latter material and reputed to be by Grinling Gibbons, is of earlier date than the examples reproduced on the two following pages, both of which are of limewood. All three were designed to serve as embellishments of the upper parts of chimney-pieces, but the composition, the treatment and the subjects vary so much that each would seem to have been executed by a different artist. The collection contains many examples of these decorative carvings, but few can surpass these three specimens, either in design or workmanship: the one shown on page 129 being of special interest, as portraying the crown, cipher and supporters used by Charles II.

As already mentioned, the carvings of the school of Grinling Gibbons and his fellow craftsmen were, perhaps, most frequently employed as decoration of the upper part of chimney-pieces copied in the Americas by craftsmen of the early American Colonial furniture makers (always the principal feature in English apartments); the particular style consisted of two swags joined in the centre by some special ornament, and from the outer ends pendants with the same motif were suspended. The space thus surrounded was sometimes occupied by a coat-of-arms (as the example at the New River Company's offices), sometimes by a portrait or picture, and frequently simply by an oak panel; occasionally, as at Chatsworth, this panel was embellished by a star or geometrical design formed by inlays of various kinds of wood; this style of treatment (which is illustrated on page 127) was borrowed from Holland, and only appears to have been used for mural decoration at about the period of Grinling Gibbons; much contemporary furniture being then similarly ornamented; in several great mansions oak and walnut floors exist inlaid with various patterns of the same style.

The small carving shown on the left of page 130 is believed to be by the hand of Gibbons, and probably came either from one of the city churches upon which he was employed, or from the private chapel of a great mansion; it is very similar to the centre ornament in the table shown on the same page.

The art of the wood-carvers of this school in early American Colonial furniture was not confined to the groups of "fruitages" or trophies which adorned altars, mantels and panels, but the elaboration of cornices, architraves and mouldings also found scope for their talents, and added to that wealth of gorgeous decoration for which the finest apartments of this period are so famous; the small piece of cornice shown on page 127, on which can be seen the cipher of William and Mary, is representative of such ornamental detail.