Gibson, John, 1790-1866

John Gibson, the Welsh-born Neoclassical sculptor, was acknowledged as a leading figure in the Roman school of sculpture. Gibson began his artistic career in Liverpool. He later resided in London, where he learned about the art and business of sculpture production. At the age of twenty-seven, Gibson arrived in Rome in 1817 and began studying under the master sculptor Antonio Canova. Although it had been Gibson’s intention to return to London, he remained in Rome the rest of his life. As his reputation grew, his patronage by royalty came to include Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, King Ludwig I of Bavaria, and Czar Alexander II. But his largest patron base was the socially and culturally rising middle class. Gibson accommodated the needs of his patrons through regular commissions of works in marble; however, he also encouraged the dissemination of his designs in other less-expensive media, such as statuettes, cameos, and prints. The international dissemination of his works in various reproductive media thus reinforced his reputation as one of the most important sculptors of the nineteenth century.