John Gibson RA
(Wales, Italy, England 1790–1866)
- Title
- Narcissus
- Year
- post 1829
- Media category
- Sculpture
- Materials used
- marble
- Dimensions
-
86.0 x 36.0 x 60.0cm
- Signature & date
- Signed front of base [incised into marble], "I. GIBSON...". Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1892
- Accession number
- 1220
- Location
- 15th–19th c European art
- Further information
A protege of John Flaxman, John Gibson gravitated to Rome in 1818, becoming a pupil of the grandest of all neoclassical sculptors, Antonio Canova. Gibson's style was determined by his admiration for, and emulation of, the prototypical masterpieces of Greek and Roman statuary. A resulting academic quality, perfectly in accord with contemporary expectations of taste, became his sculptural signature. Though he experimented on occasion with polychromatic techniques and unusual materials, Gibson's preferred medium was marble, with its traditional associations of purity and chasteness. In this version of the Narcissus legend, inspired by a Roman youth gazing into a fountain, the sculptor transformed an everyday sight into a vision of antiquity. The subject's hairstyle and footwear are dutifully quoted from classical sources.
AGNSW Handbook, 1999 .
- Bibliography (9)
-
T. Matthews (Author), The biography of John Gibson, R.A. Sculptor, Rome, London, 1911, 82.
'From Monuments to Modernity' by Ruth Iredale., Look Jul 1986, Jul 1986.
Rupert Gunnis (Author), Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, Unknown, 161 (illus.).
Lady Elizabeth Eastlake (Author), Life of John Gibson R.A., Sculptor, London, 1870.
Hans Fletcher (Author), John Gibson's Narcissus, Unknown.
Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 128, 129 (colour illus.).
Penelope Curtin (Editor), Regency - British Art & Design 1800-1830, Adelaide, 1998, 82 (colour illus.). cat.no. 155
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 34 (colour illus.).
Annabel Davie (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Domain, 1988, 39.
- Exhibition history (1)
-
Regency - British Art & Design 1800-1830, Art Gallery of South Australia, 08 Apr 1998–14 Jun 1998.
