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From the Dust Jacket:
In this fascinating new study, the work of the greatest of decorative woodcarvers is seen from a unique perspective through the eyes of a fellow carver. Grinling Gibbons (1648—1721) is famous for giving wood "the loose and airy lightness of flowers." His flamboyant cascades of blossoms, fruits, foliage, birds, and fish
dominate late 17th-century English interiors at Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and numerous great country houses. This is the first book to illustrate Gibbons' spectacular work in color and
the first to examine his unique construction methods and formidable carving techniques.Author David Esterly, a professional woodcarver, sets Gibbons in historical context and relates the dramatic events of his early
life. He then explains the heretofore mysterious layering method by which Gibbons built up his work and describes his tools, materials, and finishing processes in detail. Specially commissioned photographs depict
several Gibbons works in a disassembled state, and lush color plates display the carvings in their full glory. David Esterly is a limewood foliage carver in the Gibbons tradition whose skill brought him from
his home in upstate New York to play a key role in restoration work at Hampton Court Palace following a fire in 1986. He holds undergraduate degrees from Harvard University and Cambridge University, where he was a
Fulbright Scholar and went on to receive a Ph.D. in English literature. Esterly is curator of the Grinling Gibbons exhibition opening at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in October 1998. |
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