James Gibbs | |
|---|---|
 James Gibbs, with a ghostly view of hisRadcliffe Camera,ca 1750 byAndrea Soldi | |
| Born | (1682-12-23)23 December 1682 |
| Died | (1754-08-05)5 August 1754 London, England,Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Alma mater | Marischal College,University of Aberdeen |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Senate House Radcliffe Camera St Martin-in-the-Fields St Mary le Strand Ditchley Park |
James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was a Scottish architect. Born inAberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transition between EnglishBaroque architecture andGeorgian architecture heavily influenced byAndrea Palladio. Among his most important works areSt Martin-in-the-Fields (atTrafalgar Square), the cylindrical, domedRadcliffe Camera atOxford University, and theSenate House atCambridge University.
Gibbs very privately was aRoman Catholic and aTory. Because of this and his age, he had a somewhat removed relation to thePalladian movement which came to dominate English architecture during his career. The Palladians were largelyWhigs, led byLord Burlington andColen Campbell, a fellow Scot who developed a rivalry with Gibbs. Gibbs' professional Italian training under the Baroque masterCarlo Fontana also set him uniquely apart from the Palladian school.[1] However, despite being unfashionable, he gained a number of Tory patrons and clients, and became hugely influential through his published works, which became popular as pattern books for architecture. The naming of theGibbs surround for doors and windows, which he certainly did not invent, testifies to this influence.
His architectural style did incorporate Palladian elements, as well as forms from Italian Baroque andInigo Jones (1573–1652), but was most strongly influenced by the work of SirChristopher Wren (1632–1723), who was an early supporter of Gibbs. Overall, Gibbs was an individual who formed his own style independently of current fashions. Architectural historianJohn Summerson describes his work as the fulfilment of Wren's architectural ideas, which were not fully developed in his own buildings.[2] Despite the influence of his books, Gibbs, as a stylistic outsider, had little effect on the later direction of British architecture, which saw the rise ofNeoclassicism shortly after his death.
James Gibbs was born on 23 December 1682 in Fittysmire,Aberdeen,[3]Scotland, a younger son of Patrick Gibbs, merchant, and his second wife Ann (née Gordon). The family wasRoman Catholic; there was a half-brother, William, from Patrick's first marriage to Isabel (née Farquhar).[4] Gibbs was educated atAberdeen Grammar School andMarischal College.[5] After the death of his parents he went in 1700 to stay with relatives inHolland.[5] He later travelled through Europe, visitingFlanders, France, Switzerland and Germany. Some time afterwards he left for Rome, travelling via France. On 12 October 1703 he registered as a student at theScots College.[6] He would have been studying for theCatholic priesthood but had second thoughts.[6] By the end of 1704 he was studying architecture underCarlo Fontana;[7] he was also taught by Pietro Francesco Garroli, professor of perspective at theAccademia di San Luca.[8] While in Rome Gibbs metJohn Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont, who attempted to persuade him to move to Ireland.[8] He moved to London in November 1708;[8] his return was probably due to the terminal illness of his half-brother William, who died before James reached Britain.[9]
Still intending to take up the offer of work in Ireland, he had been befriended byJohn Erskine, Earl of Mar, while abroad. The Earl persuaded Gibbs to remain in London, offering him his first commission, alterations to his house inWhitehall.[8] Around this time he metEdward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, who would be a powerful patron and friend (Gibbs would later remodel the Earl's houseWimpole Hall) andJames Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (for whom he would be one of the architects to work atCannons from 1715 to 1719[10]). Gibbs was one of the sixty founder members ofGodfrey Kneller's Academy of Painting, founded in 1711.[11] In August 1713 Gibbs discovered thatWilliam Dickinson was resigning as architect from theCommission for Building Fifty New Churches; the commissioners included Sir Christopher Wren, SirJohn Vanbrugh andThomas Archer. With the backing of, amongst others, the Earl of Mar and Sir Christopher Wren, Gibbs was appointed architect to the commission on 18 November 1713,[12] where he would have worked withNicholas Hawksmoor, his fellow architect to the commission. But a combination of events would ensure Gibbs was deprived of his place as architect to the commission by December 1715:Queen Anne had died and a Whig government had replaced the Tories; and the failure of theJacobite rising of 1715 that was supported by the Earl of Mar were all factors.[12] Still he was able to complete one church,St Mary le Strand, that he described as "the first publick (sic) building I was employed in after my arrival from Italy; which being situated in a very publick place, the Commissioners... spar'd no cost to beautify".[12] On 18 December 1716 Gibbs joined the "Vandykes clubb" (sic), also called the Club of St Luke for "Virtuosi in London". Fellow architects who were members includedWilliam Kent andWilliam Talman; other notable members with whom Gibbs would later work included the garden designerCharles Bridgeman and the sculptorJohn Michael Rysbrack, who sculpted many of the memorials Gibbs designed.[13] In March 1721 Charles Bridgeman,James Thornhill,John Wootton and Gibbs were all travelling together from London to Wimpole Hall where they were all working for Edward Harley, the Earl of Oxford; Thornhill recalled that they drank Harley's "healths over and over, as well in our civil as bacchanalian hours" and talked "of building, pictures and may be towards the close of politics or religion".[14]
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In 1720 Gibbs was invited along with other architects to enter a competition to design a new church to replace the dilapidated church ofSt Martin-in-the-Fields. He won, and on 24 November 1720 he was appointed architect of the new church,[15] which was to be his most famous building.Horace Walpole described Gibbs as being around 1720 as "the architect most in vogue".[16] In 1720 Gibbs was approached by the Provost ofKing's College, Cambridge to complete the college. The scheme consisted of three buildings, all 53 feet (16 m) high, forming a courtyard 240 by 282 feet (73 by 86 m) to the south of the Chapel. In the end only the western block, the 236-foot (72 m) long Fellows' Building, was constructed from 1721 to 1724; the eastern Fellows' Building would have been identical, and the southern building would have had a greatoctastyleCorinthian portico, and been 236 feet (72 m) long, containing the great dining hall, Provost's Lodge and offices.[17] On 11 December 1721 Edward Lany, one of the Syndics ofUniversity of Cambridge, thanked Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford for sending "Mr Gibbs's design for our building. I design to offer it to the Syndics as soon as they meet...I have not skill enough myself to judge of it".[18] This referred to a design for a new central building for the University to house the library, Senate House, the Consistory and Register Offices. Gibbs produced a second larger design in 1722, consisting of a courtyard building with two projecting wings to the east, 189 by 118 feet (58 by 36 m).[18] Work started on the building in November 1722, but in the end only theSenate House, 110 by 50 feet (34 by 15 m), the northern of the two east wings, was built. It was finished in 1730.
By 1723 Gibbs was rich enough to open an account atDrummonds Bank, with his first year's balance being £1055 11 shillings 4 pence.[19] 1723 also saw Gibbs being made a governor ofSt Bartholomew's Hospital;[20] other governors included fellow architectsRichard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington andGeorge Dance the Elder. On 1 August 1728 it was decided to rebuild the Hospital.[20] Gibbs offered his service for free, and designed a quadrangle of 200 by 160 feet (61 by 49 m) with four near-identical plain blocks. In March 1726 Gibbs was made a member of theSociety of Antiquaries of London.[21] and in 1727 he was awarded with the only government post he ever held, Architect of the Ordnance,[21] which he held for life. He was given it thanks toJohn Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, who wasMaster-General of the Ordnance and in 1729 he was elected to theRoyal Society.[21] One of the most serious disappointments of Gibbs's career was his failure to win the commission for theMansion House, London. There were two competitions for the building, both of which he entered – the first in 1728 and a second in 1735; in the endGeorge Dance the Elder won the commission.[22] In 1735,Gavin Hamilton paintedA Conversation of Virtuosis... at the Kings Arms, a group portrait that includedMichael Dahl,George Vertue,John Wootton, Gibbs and Rysbrack, along with other artists who were instrumental in bringing theRococo style to English design and interiors.[23] After the death in 1736 of Nicholas Hawksmoor, who was architect for theRadcliffe Camera, Gibbs was appointed on 4 March 1737 to replace him.[24] The Radcliffe Camera was finished by 19 May 1749.[25] Gibbs was awarded byOxford University an honorary degree ofMaster of Arts in 1749 recognition of the completion of the Radcliffe Camera.[4]
A list of the nearly 700 books in his library is preserved in theBodleian Library.[26] While architecture and related crafts made up the bulk of his books, other subjects covered included antiquities, coins, and heraldry; histories of England, Scotland and Rome and other nations; literature including works byAlexander Pope,Jonathan Swift,Daniel Defoe andMatthew Prior; travel books including Egypt, the South Seas, Russia, Hungary, Lapland, Virginia, Ceylon and Abyssinia; missionary travels including China, Formosa, Guinea, Borneo and the East Indies; books on religion including both Anglican and Roman Catholic works; and even cookery books. The most significant of the architectural works wereVincenzo Scamozzi'sL'Idea dell'Architettura Universale,Sebastiano Serlio'sSette Libri d'Architettura,Domenico Fontana'sDella transportatione dell'obelisco Vaticano e delle fabriche di Sisto V,Colen Campbell'sVitruvius Britannicus,Giacomo Leoni'sThe Architecture of A. Palladio, in Four Books,William Kent'sThe Designs of Inigo Jones andRobert Wood'sThe ruins of Palmyra. Gibbs is also known to have owned at least 117 paintings, including works byCanaletto,Giovanni Paolo Panini,Sebastiano Ricci,Antoine Watteau andWillem van de Velde the Younger.[27] Sculptures owned by Gibbs included a bust ofFlora byFrançois Girardon, a bust of Matthew Prior byAntoine Coysevox and busts of Alexander Pope and Gibbs by Rysbrack.[27]
By 1743 Gibbs, who was fond of wine and food, was described as "corpulent".[28] In June 1749 Gibbs set out for thespa town ofAix-la-Chapelle for treatment: he long suffered fromkidney stones and had lost weight and was in pain. He remained until September when he returned to London.[29] Gibbs never married.[30] He died in his London house on the corner ofWimpole Street and Henrietta Street on 5 August 1754 and was buried inSt Marylebone Parish Church, and a modestwall tablet was erected with this inscription:[31][a]
Underneath lye the Remains of JAMES
GIBBS Esqr. whose Skill in Architecture
appears by his Printed Works as well
as the Buildings directed by him,
Among other Legacys & Charitys
He left One Hundred Pounds towards
Enlarging this Church
He died Augt. 5th. 1754.
Aged 71.
In his will made on 9 May 1754, Gibbs left £1000, hisPlate, and three houses inMarylebone toLord Erskine in gratitude for favours from his father the late Earl of Mar. Further bequests included £1,400 and two houses in Marylebone and Argyll GroundWestminster to John Sherwine of Soho plus £100 to be given to a charity of Sherwine's daughters choice, to Robert Pringle of Clifton aCavendish Square house and £400 and toCosmo Alexander (1724–1772) a Scottish painter "my house I live in withall [sic] its furniture as it stands with pictures bustoes [sic] etc". Further bequests of £100 each went to William Thomas,Dr. William King, St Bartholomew's Hospital and theFoundling Hospital. The Trustees ofRadcliffe Camera were given "all my printed books, Books of Architecture books of prints and drawings books of maps and a pair of globes with leather covers to be placed ... in the library... of which I was architect ... next to my Bustoe".[33]
Mar attached Gibbs' name among the list of architects to be responsible for the new churches to be built under theCommission for Building Fifty New Churches, and in 1713 he was appointed one of the Commission's two surveyors, the contemporary term for an architect, alongsideNicholas Hawksmoor. He held this post for two years, until he was forced out by the Whigs, because of his Tory sympathies, and replaced byJohn James.[34] During his tenure he completed his first important commission, the church ofSt Mary le Strand (1714–17), in theCity of Westminster. A previous design had been prepared by theEnglish Baroque architectThomas Archer, which Gibbs developed in an ItalianMannerist style, influenced by thePalazzo Branconio dell'Aquila in Rome, attributed toRaphael, as well as incorporating elements from Wren.[35] Such strong Italian influence was not popular with the Whigs, who were now taking political control following the accession of KingGeorge I in 1714, leading to Gibbs' dismissal, and causing him to modify the foreign influences in his work.[36] Colen Campbell'sVitruvius Britannicus (1715), which promoted the Palladian style, also contains unfavourable comments regarding Carlo Fontana and St Mary le Strand.[36] Campbell went on to replace Gibbs as the architect ofBurlington House around 1717, where the latter had designed the offices and colonnades for the young Lord Burlington.
Other early designs include the house ofCannons, Middlesex (1716–20), forJames Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, and the tower of Wren'sSt Clement Danes (1719).[37] AtTwickenham he designed the pavilion atOrleans House, called the Octagon Room, for a Scottish patron,James Johnston (1655–1737) former Secretary of State for Scotland, about 1720.[38] It is the only part of the house and grounds that has survived.
Gibbs' mature style emerges in the early 1720s, with the house ofDitchley, Oxfordshire (1720–22), forGeorge Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield. It typifies his conservative domestic manner, which changed little throughout the rest of his career.[39] His other houses includeSudbrooke Lodge,Petersham (1728), for theDuke of Argyll, works atWimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, forEdward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer,Patshull Hall, Staffordshire (1730) forSir John Astley, and modifications toColen Campbell's designs atHoughton Hall in Norfolk. Gibbs also completed the Gothic Temple (1741–48), a triangularfolly atStowe, Buckinghamshire, and now one of the properties leased and maintained by theLandmark Trust. Other garden buildings at Stowe include the pair of "Boycott Pavilions", which were altered byGiovanni Battista Borra in 1754 to replace the pyramidal stone roofs with more conventional domes.[40]
Gibbs designed one church for theCommission for Building Fifty New Churches,St Mary le Strand. Construction began in 1714 and it was complete by 1717. Between 1721 and 1726 Gibbs designed his most important and influential work, the church ofSt Martin-in-the-Fields, located inTrafalgar Square, London. Gibbs' initial radical design for the commission was for a circular church, derived from a design byAndrea Pozzo; its illustration in Gibbs' book was to influence several adaptations byNeoclassical architects.[41] This was rejected by the commission, and Gibbs developed the present rectangular design. The layout and detailing of the building owes much to Wren, in particularSt James's Church, Piccadilly.[42] However, Gibbs' innovation at St Martin's was to place the steeple centrally, behind thepediment.[43] By contrast, Wren's steeples were usually adjacent to the church, rather than within the walls. This apparent incongruity was criticised at the time,[43] but St Martin-in-the-Fields nevertheless became a model for church buildings, particularly forAnglican worship, across Britain and around the world.[41]
At the same time, Gibbs designed achapel of ease for theRobert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, now known asSt Peter, Vere Street (1721–24).[39] In 1725 he designed All Saints',Derby, nowDerby Cathedral, on similar lines to St Martin's, although at Derby the original gothic steeple was retained.[43] Gibbs, the first British architect to do so,[44] created numerous designs for funeral monuments, often collaborating with the sculptorMichael Rysbrack. In 1733 Gibbs was commissioned byLord Foley to adapt the chapel fromCannons House, as the parish church atGreat Witley.[45]
In 1723 Gibbs was appointed a governor ofSt Bartholomew's Hospital,[46] which led to him being commissioned to redesign the hospital. In 1728 he produced a design with four near identical blocks around a square 200 by 160 feet (61 by 49 m); he gave his services for free.[47] The first block to be built, the north, administration block was constructed from 9 June 1730, usingBath Stone (this would be used for all the blocks). It was finished in 1732 and contains the Great Hall and the main staircase, the walls of which are covered by murals painted byWilliam Hogarth, depicting Christ healing the sick at thePool of Bethesda and theparable of the good Samaritan. The other blocks contained wards. The south block was built from 1735 to 1740 (demolished 1937). the west block was built from 1743 to 1753; it was delayed due to theWar of the Austrian Succession. The east block was built 1758–68 to Gibbs' design.
Gibbs worked at bothOxford andCambridge Universities. He shares the credit, withJames Burrough, for designing theSenate House at Cambridge.[48] The Fellows' Building atKing's College (1724–30) is his work entirely. A simple composition, similar in style to his houses, the building is enlivened by a central feature incorporating an arch, within a doric portal, and aDiocletian window, all under a pediment. This mannerist composition of features from Wren and Palladio is an example of Gibbs' more adventurous Italian style.[43]
More adventurous still was Gibbs' last major work, theRadcliffe Camera,Oxford (1739–49). A circular library building was first planned by Hawksmoor around 1715, but nothing was done at the time. Sometime before 1736, new designs were submitted by Hawksmoor and Gibbs, with the latter's rectangular design being preferred. However, this plan was abandoned in favour of a circular plan by Gibbs, which drew on Hawksmoor's 1715 scheme, although it was very different in detail.[49] Gibbs' design saw him returning to his Italian mannerist sources, and in particular shows the influence ofSanta Maria della Salute, Venice (1681), byBaldassarre Longhena. The building incorporates unexpected vertical alignments: for instance, the ribs of the dome do not line up with the columns of the drum, but lie in between, creating a rhythmically complex composition.[49]
Gibbs published the first edition ofA Book of Architecture, Containing Designs of Buildings and Ornaments in 1728, dedicated to one of his patronsJohn Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll. It was a folio of his building designs both executed and not, as well as numerous designs for ornaments and including 150 engraved plates covering 380 different designs. He was the first British architect to publish a book devoted to his own designs.[50] The major works illustrated include St Martin-in-the-Fields (including the unexecuted version with a circular nave), St Mary le Strand, the complete schemes for King's College Cambridge and the Public Building (including the Senate House) at Cambridge University, numerous designs for medium-sized country houses, garden building and follies, obelisks and memorial columns, church memorials and monuments, as well as wrought-iron work, fireplaces, window and door surrounds,Cartouche (design) and urns. The first page of the introduction included: '...such a Work as this would be of use to such Gentleman as might be concerned in Building, especially in the remote parts of the Country, where little or no assistance for designs can be procured'. It was intended to be a pattern book for both architects and clients, and became, according to John Summerson, "probably the most widely-used architecture book of the century, not only throughout Britain, but in theAmerican colonies and theWest Indies".[49] For example, Plate 58 was an inspiration for the river façade ofMount Airy, Richmond County, Virginia, and perhaps also for the floorplan ofDrayton Hall in Charleston County, South Carolina.[51]
Other published works by Gibbs includeThe Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture (1732), which explained how to draw theClassical orders and related details and was used well into the 19th century,[49] andBibliotheca Radcliviana subtitledA Short Description of the Radcliffe Library Oxford (1747) to celebrate the Radcliffe Camera, including a list of all the craftsmen employed in the building's construction as well as twenty-one plates.[52] In 1752 he published a two-volume translation of theLatin bookDe Rebus Emanuelis by a 16th-century Portuguese BishopJerónimo Osório da Fonseca; his English title wasThe History of the Portuguese during the Reign of Emanuel. It is a history book with accounts of warfare, voyages of discovery from Africa to China (including descriptions of the religious beliefs of these countries) and also the initial colonisation of Brazil.[53]
The following list includes Gibbs' most significant works.[54]
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