- 17
Grinling Gibbons
Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 USD
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Description
- Grinling Gibbons
- A High Relief Celebrating Psalm 150 with King David Playing a Harp and Saint Cecilia Playing an Organ, circa 1668-1670
- Monogrammed with two interlaced Gs on the organ
- Boxwood
Provenance
Probably commissioned by Sir Robert Barwick of Toulston, Recorder of York
Sale: P.B. Meyer Collection, Sotheby's, London, November 25, 1963, lot 102
Sale: W.R. Rees-Davies Collection, Sotheby's, London, April 9, 1973, lot 131
Sale: The Cyril Humphris Collection, Sotheby's, New York, January 10, 1995, lot 65
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman
Sale: P.B. Meyer Collection, Sotheby's, London, November 25, 1963, lot 102
Sale: W.R. Rees-Davies Collection, Sotheby's, London, April 9, 1973, lot 131
Sale: The Cyril Humphris Collection, Sotheby's, New York, January 10, 1995, lot 65
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman
Exhibited
London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving (exhibition catalogue), 1998 - 1999
Literature
David Esterly, Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving, Victoria & Albert Publications, London, 1998, pp. 41-51, illus. p. 43, fig. 23
"Grinling Gibbons: Aspects of His Style and Technique," The Magazine Antiques, October 1998, pp. 494-500
Lynda Sayce and David Esterly, "'He was likewise musical...' An unexpected aspect of Grinling Gibbons," in Apollo, June, 2000, pp. 11-21, fig. 1
"Grinling Gibbons: Aspects of His Style and Technique," The Magazine Antiques, October 1998, pp. 494-500
Lynda Sayce and David Esterly, "'He was likewise musical...' An unexpected aspect of Grinling Gibbons," in Apollo, June, 2000, pp. 11-21, fig. 1
Condition
Carved from two panels. Mounted on wood backing, standard surface abrasions throughout, small chips, and small losses and very minor age cracks. Losses include tips of wings on upper left hand angel, St. Cecilia, putto below her, neck of violin on upper right side angel, and middle finger of St. David. Some very small restorations and re-attachments, including some wings, St. Cecilia’s bow, some finger, tip of putto's horn on upper left, and one putto’s wrist. Possibly slightly reduced on the sides of the low relief portion of the sculpture. Some remainders of lacquer. Stable condition. Beautiful quality.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
This superb boxwood carving is the earliest surviving sculpture by Grinling Gibbons, who is widely regarded as the finest wood-carver working in England in the later 17th and 18th centuries. Born in Holland to Dutch parents, Gibbons was hailed for his intricate and decorative Baroque carvings of garlands incorporating still-life elements. Already known as the "King's Carver" by 1680, Gibbons carried out extraordinary work for St. Paul's Cathedral, Windsor Castle, the Earl of Essex's at Cassiobury House and was also commissioned by King William III to create carvings, some of which adorn Kensington Palace.
The pictorial source for the present relief is a painting of the Performance of a Motet of Orlando di Lasso by Peter de Witte (Brussels 1548 - 1628 Munich) (also known as Candido) illustrating King David’s celestial concert in praise of God (fig. 1). The painting was commissioned by Duke William V or his Bavarian court before 1593. Like the celebrated composer Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594), Candido was associated with the court, having been called to Munich by the Duke in 1586. The South Netherlandish print maker Johannes Sadeler I (Brussels 1550-c. 1600 Venice ) also travelled to Munich in around 1589 where he engraved Candido’s painting of the Perfomance. Such three-way collaborations between printmaker, painter and composer were not unknown and in fact Sadeler made it his specialty.
Orlando di Lasso (Mons, Hainaut 1532 -1594 Munich) was a prolific and versatile composer and was the most widely admired musician throughout Europe during his lifetime. Renowned in particular for his motets, he was invited to join the court of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria in Munich in 1556, and by 1563 he took over the leadership of the Chapel (Kapellmeister), a position he maintained until his death. The capital ‘L’ at the beginning of the staves on the musical sheet on this relief represents the decorative first letter of the first word of the written song, Laudent. Here, Gibbons, whose love of music is reflected in his later works as well, includes the notes but not the words for the four voices of Lasso’s four-part motet, with the exception of the first two letters of the word ‘Cantus’ seen on the sheet of music on the left-hand side of the panel.
This ornate sculpture, adapted from the print, calls for God to be praised with voices and musical instruments. King David plays the harp and is surrounded by dancing putti; above, St. Cecilia, patron saint of music, plays her organ accompanied by angelic musicians. The musical instruments are carved in great detail, portending Gibbons' later production which included diminutive carvings or ‘objects of virtu’ which were made to please secular connoisseurs.
Working from the engraving, Gibbons subtly altered King David’s harp, substituting the arms of the Barwicks of Yorkshire for those of the Duke of Bavaria. The prominent Barwick and the closely related Fairfax families commissioned the notable York glass painter Henry Gyles (1645-1709) to paint two windows, one at Saint Helen's church, Denton Hall, Yorkshire, and one at Womersley Hall, Yorkshire. The Denton window bears the armorial of Lord Fairfax, along the base is written IVVENES ET VIRGINES SENES CVM IVNIORIBVS LAVDENT NOMEN DONINI, PSALM 148, VERSE 12, and is signed and dated 1700, and the Womersley Hall window incorporates the same impaled armorials of the Fairfax and Barwick families seen on Gibbons’ King David relief. The inscription on the window led Gibbons scholars to mistakenly identify the musical sheets on the wood relief which in fact are a paraphrase of Psalm 150. Sir Robert Barwick's daughter and heiress Frances (d. 1683-4) married Henry Fairfax (1631-1688) who was to become the 4th Lord Fairfax in 1671 and whose estates included Denton. The Barwick or Fairfax family was clearly in possession of the Sadeler engraving after Candido's painting upon which both artists, Gibbons and Gyles, relied for their compositions. Furthermore, it is likely that these aristocratic families commissioned Gibbons to carve the present King David relief. The size and subject matter of the present panel indicate that it was likely made to adorn an organ case in a church or chapel.
After moving to Deptford, South East London, in 1671, Gibbons began working on another narrative panel, the pearwood Crucifixion panel after a painting by Tintoretto, which was later engraved by Agostino Carracci. Stylistically, the Crucifixion carving, now the property of The National Trust, Dunham Massey, Cheshire, bears close affinity to the King David panel. Moreover, the existence of the Crucifixion panel underscores the sculptor’s use of engravings as the basis for some of his early compositions. The use of interlaced Gs for the sculptor’s monogram also appears on both of these carvings. In London, the sculptor’s career took a decisive turn away from figural reliefs toward more decorative carvings which by the 1680s incorporated musical elements within his dense swags of leaves, fruit, flowers and birds.
During his three years in York, Gibbons worked as a journeyman for the esteemed architect John Etty (c. 1634-1708) but the relationship continued long after the sculptor’s move to Deptford where the diarist John Evelyn (1620-1706) famously ‘discovered’ him and introduced him to King Charles II. A letter from Grinling Gibbons to Etty dated 10 July 1684 (fig. 2) confirms their sustained working relationship and his thriving reputation and business in London. It was Gibbons’ recognition of his own talent, as demonstrated by the King David relief, which afforded him the confidence to move south to London where opportunities for greater commissions abounded. In the letter, Gibbons refers to arrangements for the notable Archbishop Sterne monument in York Minster. The sculptor's career and reputation in London expanded rapidly, and between 1681 and 1683 he formed a partnership with Arnold Quellin, the son of Artus II Quellin with whom he studied in Amsterdam. This coincided with Gibbons' appointment to Surveyor and Repairer of Carved Work at Windsor Castle in 1682, and with the completion of the extraordinary Cosimo Panel commissioned by Charles II and sent as a gift to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de’ Medici (Esterly, op. cit., pp. 130-144). The Cosimo Panel includes a very finely carved music book with baroque music for the guitar. This may have been a nod to Charles II who played that fashionable instrument.
The pictorial source for the present relief is a painting of the Performance of a Motet of Orlando di Lasso by Peter de Witte (Brussels 1548 - 1628 Munich) (also known as Candido) illustrating King David’s celestial concert in praise of God (fig. 1). The painting was commissioned by Duke William V or his Bavarian court before 1593. Like the celebrated composer Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594), Candido was associated with the court, having been called to Munich by the Duke in 1586. The South Netherlandish print maker Johannes Sadeler I (Brussels 1550-c. 1600 Venice ) also travelled to Munich in around 1589 where he engraved Candido’s painting of the Perfomance. Such three-way collaborations between printmaker, painter and composer were not unknown and in fact Sadeler made it his specialty.
Orlando di Lasso (Mons, Hainaut 1532 -1594 Munich) was a prolific and versatile composer and was the most widely admired musician throughout Europe during his lifetime. Renowned in particular for his motets, he was invited to join the court of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria in Munich in 1556, and by 1563 he took over the leadership of the Chapel (Kapellmeister), a position he maintained until his death. The capital ‘L’ at the beginning of the staves on the musical sheet on this relief represents the decorative first letter of the first word of the written song, Laudent. Here, Gibbons, whose love of music is reflected in his later works as well, includes the notes but not the words for the four voices of Lasso’s four-part motet, with the exception of the first two letters of the word ‘Cantus’ seen on the sheet of music on the left-hand side of the panel.
This ornate sculpture, adapted from the print, calls for God to be praised with voices and musical instruments. King David plays the harp and is surrounded by dancing putti; above, St. Cecilia, patron saint of music, plays her organ accompanied by angelic musicians. The musical instruments are carved in great detail, portending Gibbons' later production which included diminutive carvings or ‘objects of virtu’ which were made to please secular connoisseurs.
Working from the engraving, Gibbons subtly altered King David’s harp, substituting the arms of the Barwicks of Yorkshire for those of the Duke of Bavaria. The prominent Barwick and the closely related Fairfax families commissioned the notable York glass painter Henry Gyles (1645-1709) to paint two windows, one at Saint Helen's church, Denton Hall, Yorkshire, and one at Womersley Hall, Yorkshire. The Denton window bears the armorial of Lord Fairfax, along the base is written IVVENES ET VIRGINES SENES CVM IVNIORIBVS LAVDENT NOMEN DONINI, PSALM 148, VERSE 12, and is signed and dated 1700, and the Womersley Hall window incorporates the same impaled armorials of the Fairfax and Barwick families seen on Gibbons’ King David relief. The inscription on the window led Gibbons scholars to mistakenly identify the musical sheets on the wood relief which in fact are a paraphrase of Psalm 150. Sir Robert Barwick's daughter and heiress Frances (d. 1683-4) married Henry Fairfax (1631-1688) who was to become the 4th Lord Fairfax in 1671 and whose estates included Denton. The Barwick or Fairfax family was clearly in possession of the Sadeler engraving after Candido's painting upon which both artists, Gibbons and Gyles, relied for their compositions. Furthermore, it is likely that these aristocratic families commissioned Gibbons to carve the present King David relief. The size and subject matter of the present panel indicate that it was likely made to adorn an organ case in a church or chapel.
After moving to Deptford, South East London, in 1671, Gibbons began working on another narrative panel, the pearwood Crucifixion panel after a painting by Tintoretto, which was later engraved by Agostino Carracci. Stylistically, the Crucifixion carving, now the property of The National Trust, Dunham Massey, Cheshire, bears close affinity to the King David panel. Moreover, the existence of the Crucifixion panel underscores the sculptor’s use of engravings as the basis for some of his early compositions. The use of interlaced Gs for the sculptor’s monogram also appears on both of these carvings. In London, the sculptor’s career took a decisive turn away from figural reliefs toward more decorative carvings which by the 1680s incorporated musical elements within his dense swags of leaves, fruit, flowers and birds.
During his three years in York, Gibbons worked as a journeyman for the esteemed architect John Etty (c. 1634-1708) but the relationship continued long after the sculptor’s move to Deptford where the diarist John Evelyn (1620-1706) famously ‘discovered’ him and introduced him to King Charles II. A letter from Grinling Gibbons to Etty dated 10 July 1684 (fig. 2) confirms their sustained working relationship and his thriving reputation and business in London. It was Gibbons’ recognition of his own talent, as demonstrated by the King David relief, which afforded him the confidence to move south to London where opportunities for greater commissions abounded. In the letter, Gibbons refers to arrangements for the notable Archbishop Sterne monument in York Minster. The sculptor's career and reputation in London expanded rapidly, and between 1681 and 1683 he formed a partnership with Arnold Quellin, the son of Artus II Quellin with whom he studied in Amsterdam. This coincided with Gibbons' appointment to Surveyor and Repairer of Carved Work at Windsor Castle in 1682, and with the completion of the extraordinary Cosimo Panel commissioned by Charles II and sent as a gift to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de’ Medici (Esterly, op. cit., pp. 130-144). The Cosimo Panel includes a very finely carved music book with baroque music for the guitar. This may have been a nod to Charles II who played that fashionable instrument.
The carving of musical scores and instruments with extraordinary precision is a talent that only Gibbons possessed among English woodcarvers of the period. The accuracy of details in his work and his apparent joy of music and use of musical imagery are stunningly exemplified in the King David relief. In 1719, Gibbons was appointed Master Carpenter to the King's Works, a fitting culmination to his exceptional career.
RELATED LITERATURE
T.R. Witaker, Ducatus Leodiensis, Leeds, 1816, p. 49 (citing the Yorkshire historian Ralph Thoresby)
David Green, "Grinling Gibbons," Country Life, 1964, p. 148
Frans Halsmuseum Catalogue, Haarlem, 1969, cat. no. 313, p. 69
Howard Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, London, 1978, p. 300 (for a résumé of the life and work of John Etty)
Peter Candid-Zeichnungen (exhibition catalogue), Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, 1978 - 1979, cat. no. 4, pls. 9, 101
Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, Amsterdam, 1980, vol. XXI, cat. no. 127, p. 101
"Henry Gyles, Virtuoso Glasspainter of York, 1645-1709," York Historian, 1984, vol. 4
Geoffrey Beard, The Work of Grinling Gibbons, London, 1989, Appendix I, p. 208