John Gilbert (painter)
{{short description|English painter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
File:John Gilbert, by John Gilbert.jpg
File:Gilbert-Shylock.jpg After the Trial, an illustration to The Merchant of Venice.]]
Sir John Gilbert {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|RA}} (21 July 1817 – 5 October 1897) was an English artist, illustrator and engraver.
Biography
Gilbert was born in Blackheath, Surrey,{{Citation |title= Union List of Artist Names |url= http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=&role=&nation=&subjectid=500001979 |accessdate= 2008-07-13 }} and taught himself to paint. His only formal instruction was from George Lance.{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Gilbert, Sir John}} Skilled in several media, Gilbert gained the nickname, "the Scott of painting". He was best known for the illustrations and wood-engravings he produced for the Illustrated London News.
{{Distinguished men of science of Great Britain 1806-7|align=left}}
Gilbert was initially apprenticed to a firm of estate agents, but taught himself art by copying prints. He was unable to enter the Royal Academy Schools, but mastered watercolour, oils, and other media. From 1836 he exhibited at the Society of British Artists, and at the RA from 1838. The art patron Thomas Sheepshanks and the artist William Mulready suggested that he learn wood engraving. Starting with Punch, he moved on to the Illustrated London News. He designed an impressive number of wood-engravings (over 2000) for that publication and for The London Journal. He also produced very many illustrations for books, including nearly all the important English poets (including his illustrated Shakespeare with almost 750 drawings). He became president of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1871.{{Citation |title= Shakespeare Illustrated: The Artists: Sir John Gilbert |url= http://shakespeare.emory.edu/illustrated_showartist.cfm?artistid=37 |accessdate= 2008-07-13 |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20060910141809/http://shakespeare.emory.edu/illustrated_showartist.cfm?artistid=37 |archivedate= 10 September 2006 }} He exhibited some 400 pictures in watercolour and oil exhibited at the various societies. In 1872 he was knighted. He became an RA in 1876, in the same year as Edward John Poynter.
The Gilbert-Garret Competition for Sketching Clubs was started in 1870 at St. Martins School of Art, and named after its first president, John Gilbert.{{cite web|url=http://chestofbooks.com/crafts/general/Arts-And-Crafts-Magazine/Art-School-Exhibitions-2.html|title=Art School Exhibitions 2|website=chestofbooks.com}} In 1893 he presented a collection of his work to the Guildhall Art Gallery in the City of London.
Gilbert is buried at Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries.
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Illustrated books and legacy
Gilbert illustrated:
- William Shakespeare. Song and sonnets{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/songssonnets00shakuoft|title=Songs and sonnets|first=William|last=Shakespeare|year=1862|publisher=London S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington|via=Internet Archive}} (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1862).
- Tales from Shakspere. Charles Lamb (London: Richard Clay & Sons, Bread Street Hill, 1866)
- The Works of William Shakspere. Edited by Charles Knight – with nearly four hundred illustrations by Sir John Gilbert A.R.A (Boston: Estes and Lauriat, 1878)
Gilbert has nearly sixty oil paintings in British national collections.{{Art UK bio}}
References
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External links
{{commons category|John Gilbert}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003409/http://www.phryne.com/artists/81-62-55.HTM Phryne's list of paintings by Gilbert in accessible UK collections]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080624035826/http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/biog/gilbert.htm Gilbert biography with full text of obituary]
- {{Gutenberg author | id=31359| name=John Gilbert}}
- {{FadedPage|id=Gilbert, John|name=John Gilbert (illustrator)|author=yes}}
- {{Internet Archive author |search=( ("Gilbert, John" OR "John Gilbert") AND (Sir OR "1817-1897" OR illustrations OR illustrated OR illus) AND -creator:(Thomas) )}}
- [http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=5685 Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections]
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Category:19th-century English painters
Category:English male painters
Category:English watercolourists
Category:Artists from the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Category:People from Blackheath, London