The Arts Society Tonbridge – Lecture

Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 14:30

Medway Hall, The Angel Leisure Centre, Angel Lane, Tonbridge

Non-members welcome. The talk is followed by tea and biscuits.

Grinling Gibbons – Carver to the Crown

Gibbons (1648-1721) came to England from the Netherlands, and developed a virtuoso style of carving, well suited to the Baroque interiors of late 17th century England. His limewood carvings with their festoons of fruit, flowers, fish and game embellished Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, and Kensington Palace, as well as country houses such as Petworth and Belton. His work was commissioned for public buildings and churches, and he also worked in marble, making church monuments. Two superb wood carvings are in the Victoria & Albert Museum: his Lace Cravat and the relief panel of The Stoning of Stephen.

Lecturer: Mrs Caroline Knight

Architectural historian, trained at the Courtauld and specialising in 16th to 18th century English and Scottish architecture. Lecturer at the V&A on year courses and short courses, and lecturer for the Art Fund, and for the Royal Oak Foundation in the US. Researched and wrote a history of Kensington Palace. Contributed to a book on the Cecil family, and has written several articles on architectural and social history and the history of travel. Wrote London’s Country Houses (2009). Contributed a chapter to a history of the Royal Academy (Yale, forthcoming).