GIL
y graved by himself. His works were at the
time very popular, and passed through several editions. He was vicar of Boldre,
1 in the New Forest, and appropriated a
large collection of his sketches, which, sold by Christie in 1802, realised 1,560/., to the endowment of his parish school. He died at Boldre in his 80th year, April 5, 1804, and is buried in the churchyard there.
GILPIN, William Sawbey, water- colour painter. He was the son of the foregoing Sawrey Gilpin, R.A. His name first appears as an exhibitor at the Aca- demy in 1797, when, and in 1799 and 1801, he contributed some landscape views. On the foundation of the Water-Colour Society in 1804, he was elected the Society's first president, but resigned the office in 1806, on his appointment as drawing-master at the Royal Military College at Great Mar- low, and his necessary residence in the neighbourhood. Though very weak in art, he appears to have made the Society a useful president. He was a teacher of drawing, and his connections had insured him a great practice, which was seriously injured by his poor appearance on the walls of the exhibition. He continued a member of the Society, and exhibited up to 1814, when he removed with the establishment of the college to Sandhurst, and in 1816 his name is no longer in the catalogue.
GIRLING, Edmund, amateur. Clerk in the Bank at Yarmouth. He produced some good imitations of Rembrandt's etchings, * The Three Trees,' ' Goldweigher,' ' Descent from the Cross/ and other works. He also etched after Crome and the Dutch school, and was an exhibitor with the Nor- wich Society of Artists. His first work is dated in 1817, and he practised towards the end of the first quarter of the 19th century. His brother, Richard Girling. was also an etcher, and made some good copies.
f GIRTIN, Thomas, water-colour painter. Was born February 18, 1773, in Southwark, where his father was an extensive rope and cordage manufacturer. He received some instruction from a drawing-master in Aklersgate Street, and was then for a short tune the pupil of Dayes. He com- menced art as a water-colour painter, and first studied subjects in the neighbourhood of London — the Savoy ruins, the water- gate of the palace, the picturesque shores and potteries of Lambeth; and on the opposite bank of the Thames, the bowered road, old church and hospital at Chelsea. He then made a tour m Scotland, and visited York, Durham, Cumberland, and Westmoreland. Afterwards he rambled to Ely, Peterborough, Lichfield, and Lincoln, sketching their grand cathedrals and ruins. He first exhibited at the Academy in 1794, and in that and the following year sent
N
GLO
views* of Ely, Peterborough, and Lincoln Cathedrals, Warwick Castle, and some others. In 1797-98 he was a large ex- hibitor, sending four views of the city of York, an interior of St. Alban's, and after- wards views in Devonshire, Scotland, and Wales. In 1801 he exhibited for the last time — one work only — a view in oil of
- Bolton Bridge, Yorkshire.' He visited
France about twelve months before his death, and his laflt and best drawings were views in Paris. From two of these views he painted scenes for Covent Garden Theatre. He also painted a panorama of London, which was on view when he died.
His name will be for ever associated with the progress of water-colour art in this country. His manner was bold and vigor- ous; suppressing details by his clever generalisation, he gave a gloomy grandeur to his picture. He chose for his subjects the picturesque ruins of our old abbeys and castles, and the hilly scenery of the North, to which, by his skilful treatment, he gave both sentiment and power. Using a full and flowing pencil, ne appreciated the tones which truly harmonise with each other and were best suited to his subject, which was wrought with the greatest ease and mastery. A good example of his art is exhibited in the South Kensington Museum — 'Rivaulx Abbey,' painted 1798. His death, which has been attributed to his irregularities, took place at his lodgings in the Strand, at the early age of, lus gravestone says, 27, on November 9, 1802. He was buried in the churchyard of St Paul, Covent Garden. Twenty of his views in Paris were published. He etched the outline himself on soft ground, and the effects were slightly put in in aqua-tint from his drawings.
GISBRANTj John, history painter. An English artist of the 17th century. He passed many years of his life at Lisbon, where he was living in 1680. He painted an altar-piece for the church of St. Mary Magdalen in that city.
GLOVER, George, engraver. Born about 1618, he practised in the middle of the 17th centuiy. He was chiefly employed for the booksellers upon portraits, frontis- pieces, and emblematical subjects. His portraits are produced entirely with the graver, and in a bold, powerf ul manner ; the face often finely rendered in line. He apparently engraved from his own designs ; his heads are larger than was usual at the period. Many of his portraits of eminent persons are of much interest.
GLOVER, John, water-colour painter. Born at Houghton-on-the-Hill, Leicester- shire, where his father was a small farmer, February 18, 1767. He received a plain education. As an artist he was self-taught, when a child scribbling his designs over
177
