Exhibitions Huon Mallalieu

Grinling Gibbons’s life-size wooden cravat, carved in limewood in imitation of Venetian needlepoint lace, c 1690, V&A

EXHIBITIONS HUON MALLALIEU GRINLING GIBBONS TERCENTENARY EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS

Grinling Gibbons, the great Anglo-Dutch wood-carver, died 300 years ago, on 3rd August 1721, aged 73.

In our Spring issue, Loyd Grossman saluted him, and flagged up the exhibition Centuries in the Making, which opens the superlative carver’s tercentennial celebrations. That show will be at the Bonhams rooms in Bond Street from 3rd to 27th August, before travelling to Compton Verney in Warwickshire, from 25th September to January 2022. A new Grinling Gibbons Society has been set up under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, with Tristram Hunt as president.

Gibbons’s patron John Evelyn described him as ‘the most excellent in his profession, not only in England but in the whole world’, and his influence and inspiration have continued through the centuries. This longevity is an important strand in both the opening exhibitions. It is intended that the shows produce a lasting legacy highlighting living modern crafts in a permanent setting, preferably in the City of London.

Original works by Gibbons and his workshop in the Bonhams show include the font cover from All Hallows by the Tower, and two heads for effigies from the Royal Armouries at the Tower itself. The lively Gibbons horse from the Tower will be seen only at Compton Verney.

Perhaps the best-known piece by the master is the life-size wooden cravat, carved in imitation of Venetian lace, once owned by Horace Walpole and now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Drawings and designs come from Sir John Soane’s Museum. Representing the continuing legacy are carvings by Thomas Wilkinson Wallis (1821-1903), rather forgotten now, but once considered ‘undoubtedly the Grinling Gibbons of the 19th century’.

Art & Ornament, an exhibition of current practice inspired by Gibbons’s legacy, is organised by the Master Carvers’ Association. Working in wood, stone and lettering, the Master Carvers are themselves a living legacy. Their show runs until 22nd August at St Mary Abchurch, with its Gibbons reredos, and at the Dutch Church, Austin Friars (23rd August to 5th September). As well as carvings, there are watercolours by Hugh Buchanan and paintings by Tim Wright inspired by Gibbons, and Hugh Wedderburn will be carving on site. Further events include poetry and recitals.

‘They never seem to be having much fun, do they?’