0:00:04 > 0:00:07The facade of the Victoria and Albert Museum
0:00:07 > 0:00:10is a pantheon of the greatest names in British art.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16The likes of JMW Turner...
0:00:16 > 0:00:18John Constable...
0:00:18 > 0:00:20William Morris.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26But one figure is far less well known than these giants
0:00:26 > 0:00:30not a painter or designer, but a woodcarver.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34His name? Grinling Gibbons.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43From the decadence of 17th century Restoration London,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46came a carver who was called our own Michelangelo...
0:00:49 > 0:00:53..who transformed wood into pure art.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58It's completely jawdropping.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Many people are completely blown away with the sheer technical skill.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05How on earth could someone actually produce something like this?
0:01:07 > 0:01:10When the capital was at its lowest ebb,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12he made heavenly decoration.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18His carvings adorned the greatest buildings in Britain,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22his clients, the most powerful men of their age.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27It became the blue-chip style of the day,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and came to dominate interiors
0:01:29 > 0:01:32during one of the great periods of British building.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34It's a clever bloke showing off to toffs,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38but it overwhelms me with how beautiful it is.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44He introduced new ways of working with wood,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48his innovation's kept alive today by a select band of carvers.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50I connected with Grinling Gibbons,
0:01:50 > 0:01:55I connected with the 17th century. It was an epiphany, literally.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Gibbons' own career ended in failure.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01His legacy is highly precarious,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04surviving floods, fire
0:02:04 > 0:02:07and the whims of fashion.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11And yet Gibbons' work endures -
0:02:11 > 0:02:14a unique window into this turbulent age,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18created by the greatest woodcarver in British history.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45The career of Grinling Gibbons
0:02:45 > 0:02:48was born out of a national calamity.
0:02:54 > 0:03:00On 2nd September 1666, as every schoolchild knows,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04a fire began in a bakery here on Pudding Lane in the City of London.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11It quickly spread out of control.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Within a few hours, London was engulfed in flames.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26Over three days, the medieval city was almost totally destroyed
0:03:26 > 0:03:31and a world of handcrafted wooden architecture was lost.
0:03:40 > 0:03:46In the Victoria & Albert Museum, this ornate oak house facade,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48belonging to a London merchant,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51is a unique survivor of this inferno...
0:03:53 > 0:03:56..a taste of what old, wooden London would've looked like.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10The Fire of London was completely devastating.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13It destroyed a third of the buildings,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17about 80 churches, all the guild halls,
0:04:17 > 0:04:21the great warehouses, stuffed with stuff down by the Thames.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23And so, after the fire,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26it was seen as a great opportunity for rebuilding.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33The mammoth reconstruction of the capital
0:04:33 > 0:04:36was an overwhelming task for London's craftsmen.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41And for a young apprentice across the North Sea,
0:04:41 > 0:04:46the fire was not to be a tragedy, but a glorious opportunity.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05As the embers were still warm on the destroyed City of London,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10a teenage Grinling Gibbons was busy learning his craft in Amsterdam.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Gibbons had English parents,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17but he was brought up in the Netherlands.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21His father, a draper, had travelled here to make his fortune.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26This was a smart move.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30In the 17th century, the Dutch people were enjoying a "Golden Age",
0:05:30 > 0:05:34in terms of commerce and also art.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Gibbons was schooled by the most famous sculptors of the day,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43the Quellin family, headed by Artus Quellin.
0:05:51 > 0:05:57They created the classical statues that decorated Amsterdam Town Hall,
0:05:57 > 0:06:02declaring the power and confidence of Holland's new merchant class.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12Amsterdam Town Hall was a very impressive secular building,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15which was for the citizens of Amsterdam.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19So a middle-class, but a very grand, middle-class building.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24The exterior was impressive,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28but it was the carvings that Quellins created inside the building
0:06:28 > 0:06:31that were to shape Gibbons' creative imagination.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38It was very luxuriously decorated
0:06:38 > 0:06:44with all sorts of figurative and non-figurative carvings in marble.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49And the Quellins were the major artists in the city at that time.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00That was a very important part of Gibbons' training
0:07:00 > 0:07:04and there is no question he couldn't have become what he became,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08without that background in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Down-to-earth Dutch merchants liked their art to appear
0:07:14 > 0:07:18as realistic as the goods they traded in,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and their tastes were catered to by carvers far more skilled
0:07:21 > 0:07:23than any to be found in Britain.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31Here you can see, in marble, objects that Gibbons was to spend
0:07:31 > 0:07:33the rest of his career transforming into wood -
0:07:36 > 0:07:38musical instruments...
0:07:38 > 0:07:42sea shells and creatures from the sea...
0:07:42 > 0:07:46cherubs, so lifelike, they look as if they might breathe.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52But Gibbons was schooled in far more than just carving,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56because the Dutch were also obsessed with botany.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01This was a "Golden Age" of Dutch still-life painters
0:08:01 > 0:08:05and their naturalistic rendering of flowers
0:08:05 > 0:08:08and Gibbons' wood carvings were always imbued with this passion
0:08:08 > 0:08:13for flowers, in their many varieties.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22But, most importantly or the young Gibbons,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25there was a great woodwork tradition in Northern Europe
0:08:25 > 0:08:27that hadn't yet reached Britain.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37While we painted our wooden sculptures -
0:08:37 > 0:08:39raw wood was seen as vulgar -
0:08:39 > 0:08:42in Northern Europe, artists revelled
0:08:42 > 0:08:45in the natural textures of the medium.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49And like them, Gibbons was to never paint his work.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05So, an optimistic teenage Gibbons, armed with all this training,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08arrived in London, hoping to make his fortune
0:09:08 > 0:09:13as the capital rebuilt itself after the Great Fire.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19To a young Dutchman and Gibbons is only 19 -
0:09:19 > 0:09:23it must've seemed that there was a real opportunity for joinery,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26but also for this decorative woodwork that he's been studying,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29he's been an apprentice this would be just the place.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Everybody wants overmantels, they want fireplaces,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35they want doors and door lintels,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39so he must've thought it was THE place to be.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44But if he expected to be an overnight success,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47the young Gibbons was in for a shock.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50He spent his early years in England
0:09:50 > 0:09:54living in penury in the port town of Deptford,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57carving decoration not for fine houses, but boats!
0:09:59 > 0:10:03Fortunately for the young carver, in 1671,
0:10:03 > 0:10:07he was discovered at work here, in what was described as a
0:10:07 > 0:10:10"poore, solitary thatched house",
0:10:10 > 0:10:14by one of the most influential men of Restoration London.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19The story of Gibbons' discovery is legendary.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21It's told by that great diarist, John Evelyn.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25And Evelyn tells this wonderful story
0:10:25 > 0:10:28of how he's walking, one afternoon, through Deptford,
0:10:28 > 0:10:34and he sees, through a window of a cottage, this young man
0:10:34 > 0:10:38working at this piece of wood, carving it away.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43And he recognises it's a completely extraordinary piece of art.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54The piece that astounded Evelyn was this crucifixion,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56now in a country house in Cheshire.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15It's based on a scene by the Italian artist Tintoretto,
0:11:15 > 0:11:21and the piece has the drama of a great Renaissance painting,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24with its figures of Mary, swooning in agony...
0:11:26 > 0:11:29..the torture of crucifixion
0:11:29 > 0:11:32and its array of callous onlookers.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41But with this design, the young Gibbons was playing with fire.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43In Protestant England,
0:11:43 > 0:11:47this would've been an extremely shocking artwork.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52This was only a few years after the English Civil War,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55when Puritans consigned this kind of art
0:11:55 > 0:11:57to the bonfire as "idolatrous".
0:11:59 > 0:12:03But the art-loving Evelyn was clever enough to realise
0:12:03 > 0:12:08this was a new kind of sculpture, not seen in Britain before.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22I think to understand why Gibbons was so revolutionary,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25you need to understand what woodwork was like before Gibbons.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29The carvings are relatively flat, they're oak.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31So they blend in with the background.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35And you're working with very hard material, so you can't cut it
0:12:35 > 0:12:39back so much, you've got a very flat decoration, however hard you try.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42But this is the period of the Baroque,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44and people want lots of decoration.
0:12:48 > 0:12:55The British loved oak it was seen as being robust, proud,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58a part of our national character.
0:12:59 > 0:13:04But to the Dutch-born Gibbons, oak was old-fashioned -
0:13:04 > 0:13:08he chose a different medium - the much lighter limewood.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22The American woodcarver
0:13:22 > 0:13:26and the world's greatest authority on Gibbons, David Esterly,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28only works in limewood,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31bringing a modern twist to Gibbons' style of carving.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41And so he has a unique insight
0:13:41 > 0:13:44into the properties of this special material.
0:13:51 > 0:13:57There's no wood like limewood. It's remarkably crisp and firm
0:13:57 > 0:14:01soft enough to be easily cut,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04but strong enough to be radically undercut.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06It has a terrific zip to it.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Which comes from its close, crisp grain.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13In fact, you can see
0:14:13 > 0:14:18if you look at the chip I'm producing, it's really a curl.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26You see, I managed to get a whole huge curl of wood with one stroke.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31By contrast, oak, which was in use by the British carvers
0:14:31 > 0:14:33before Gibbons's arrival,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37I don't know if you can hear, it's a crunchier sound.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41It simply doesn't have the wonderful...
0:14:43 > 0:14:46..zip and closeness of the grain.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Limewood allowed Gibbons to transform wood
0:14:59 > 0:15:02into three-dimensional forms.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07He could create scenes like this depiction of the martyrdom
0:15:07 > 0:15:09of St Stephen.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Gibbons captures the drama of the precise moment
0:15:21 > 0:15:24when Stephen is about to be stoned.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33Evelyn described Gibbons' talent as "incomparable" and he secured
0:15:33 > 0:15:39a meeting for this obscure carver with the Stuart monarch, Charles II.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43It should've been the perfect opportunity to finally launch
0:15:43 > 0:15:47his carving career.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50But sadly, for Gibbons, Charles rejected his work
0:15:50 > 0:15:52on their first meeting.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58It had an aura of Catholicism about it,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03and this was positively radioactive in Britain in the 1670s.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Charles had the sensitivity to understand
0:16:07 > 0:16:11that any show of the outward trappings of the religion
0:16:11 > 0:16:14would be utterly politically unacceptable.
0:16:19 > 0:16:25With his gloomy, serious Biblical subjects, Gibbons badly misjudged
0:16:25 > 0:16:29the fun-loving mood of Restoration England.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Charles became famous for being a "merry monarch".
0:16:33 > 0:16:38His reign was about flamboyance and theatricality.
0:16:38 > 0:16:44Cromwell had closed the playhouses but one of Charles' first actions
0:16:44 > 0:16:49was to reopen them, as all of London became a kind of grand theatre.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57The ambitious Gibbons abandoned his religious work.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Realising the prevailing tastes in England, he found a job
0:17:01 > 0:17:07working as a carver on the interior of the grand Duke's Theatre.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12And now, at last, Gibbons' luck was about to turn.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20In the 1670s, Charles II rebuilt the medieval Windsor Castle
0:17:20 > 0:17:24as a pleasure palace, in the new continental baroque style.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29And because of his work at the Duke's Theatre,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31Gibbons was commissioned to work on it.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48This is the King's Dining Room,
0:17:48 > 0:17:54decorated with images of feasting - a visual celebration designed
0:17:54 > 0:17:56to glorify the Restoration of monarchy.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05But the room's tour de force were the carvings by Grinling Gibbons.
0:18:14 > 0:18:20Drawing on his Dutch training, he created flowers, fruit,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and sea creatures good enough to eat.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30Nobody in Britain had seen anything like it.
0:18:34 > 0:18:41Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a spectacular form of carved ornament
0:18:41 > 0:18:43burst on the scene.
0:18:43 > 0:18:49Wood that was carved with extraordinary realism and fluency.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56It became the blue-chip style of the day and came to dominate
0:18:56 > 0:19:00interiors during one of the great periods of British building.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08Visitors were bewildered at how Gibbons could transform solid wood
0:19:08 > 0:19:09into these forms.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15It was because he'd introduced a new technique for carving.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Gibbons never worked just from a single piece of wood.
0:19:21 > 0:19:27His decorative pieces were constructed from many blocks
0:19:27 > 0:19:31or layers that he'd stick together at the end of the process.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45Steve Bisco, like Gibbons, also uses this layering technique
0:19:45 > 0:19:47to create his limewood sculptures.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57The first stage in carving is to trace the pattern onto
0:19:57 > 0:20:00the block of wood and cut it out.
0:20:04 > 0:20:11So we have to start separating the various flowers.
0:20:14 > 0:20:20It's really just a case of working things down to the level you want.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35We eventually get to the point where
0:20:35 > 0:20:38we've separated the individual elements.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43So we now need to start putting the details on the crocuses,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and this is where it starts to get more skilled
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and you have to take your time
0:20:50 > 0:20:56and be patient with this because you can easily remove wood
0:20:56 > 0:20:59that you wanted to keep.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04Unlike a lot of carvers, who kept the things fairly stylised,
0:21:04 > 0:21:08with Gibbons you've got to carve it as close to nature
0:21:08 > 0:21:11as you possibly can.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15Which is where you the benefit of Gibbon's method of
0:21:15 > 0:21:17separating his carvings into layers.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22Because although we can shape a lot of this from the front,
0:21:22 > 0:21:28what we really need to do is turn it over and get at it from the back.
0:21:28 > 0:21:36So with it turned it over, we can pare down to create
0:21:36 > 0:21:41nice sharp edges, and I have to be careful not to press too hard,
0:21:41 > 0:21:46because the carving is getting increasingly more fragile now,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50and you have to be patient and not rush it
0:21:50 > 0:21:53otherwise you hear a sickening crack.
0:22:03 > 0:22:09And this is a finished section of a Gibbons-style carving,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13which would then be attached to the rest of the carving
0:22:13 > 0:22:15to create a whole floral spray.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Because of his work at Windsor,
0:22:28 > 0:22:33Gibbons was now very much in Charles II's favour.
0:22:33 > 0:22:38Gibbons created this spectacular bronze statue of the monarch,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40now in the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.
0:22:40 > 0:22:46It showed the king as a pagan Roman emperor, a work that displays
0:22:46 > 0:22:50the power but also the gilded glamour of the monarchy.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54MUSIC: "Gloria" by Handel
0:22:54 > 0:22:56# Gloria, Gloria. #
0:22:56 > 0:23:00And Charles' patronage meant that Gibbons' woodwork
0:23:00 > 0:23:02was now to reach an international stage.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09The king commissioned the carver to create
0:23:09 > 0:23:15a panel for his political ally Cosimo III of Florence.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18It was supposed to be a simple diplomatic gift.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23But Gibbons went well beyond his brief to create his most complex
0:23:23 > 0:23:26and beautiful piece to date.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33This is the Cosimo Panel.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40It shows art triumphing over hatred and turmoil.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45Here you can see arrows safely put out of harm's way in their quiver,
0:23:45 > 0:23:50and a medallion of Pietro da Cortona, Cosimo's favourite painter.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Gibbons even signed the piece,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59showing that he too should be judged as a great artist.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17But not everything is as it seems about the Cosimo Panel.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23It was recently dismantled to undergo restoration in this
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Florentine conservation studio.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33This celebration of peace has been in the wars
0:24:33 > 0:24:35since its creation.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47In the 1960s Florence was almost destroyed
0:24:47 > 0:24:50as the River Arno broke its banks.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53The panel was covered in putrid water and mud
0:24:53 > 0:24:57as floods poured into the museum that housed it.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04And having survived water, the next peril was fire.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12The work was nearly blown up during a gas explosion in the 1980s.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Shane Raven is a carver whose work is imbued
0:26:54 > 0:26:57with the spirit of Gibbons' Cosimo Panel.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Shane's Augustus Panel,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05in the Carpenter's Company building in London,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09has many visual nods towards Gibbons' masterpiece.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45Shane creates grand fantasies in limewood - like this horn of plenty.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53His life and work changed for ever when he saw the Cosimo Panel
0:27:53 > 0:27:56when it came to the V&A in the late '90s.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05I found it quite emotional - it was like childbirth,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07when my daughter was born.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11I just went in. Being a grown man, I just wanted to cry.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13I just looked at this thing and thought
0:28:13 > 0:28:15"My God, this is phenomenal".
0:28:15 > 0:28:18And the piece that struck me the most was the cravat that was carved
0:28:18 > 0:28:20which was hanging underneath one of the crowns.
0:28:20 > 0:28:26And it was unbelievably beautiful. It was so tactile. It almost moved.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30And also, one of the nicest things for me was actually looking
0:28:30 > 0:28:34to the side of the Cosimo Panel. I actually saw chisel marks.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37They were almost my chisel marks. I remember doing things like that.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40I thought "Yes, that's how he's done it". It was so personal.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43And then I connected with Grinling Gibbons,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45I connected with the 17th century.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48That was the moment for me that I just thought was phenomenal.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50It was an epiphany, literally.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57I carve because it's a passion, I love to create things from wood.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01I love to make furniture, but with this, it's almost living,
0:29:01 > 0:29:04it's almost organic, it's very, very tactile
0:29:04 > 0:29:06although hopefully, people won't go touching it.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08But you WANT to touch it.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11People want to go up and run their hands over it, and "Does this move?
0:29:11 > 0:29:14"Does this move?" It's a great feeling. It's almost...
0:29:14 > 0:29:17Especially things like the music sheet - it's going to be carved
0:29:17 > 0:29:21so thin, that you're hoping somebody will blow it, and flick it up.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29The Cosimo Panel is a joyous celebration
0:29:29 > 0:29:33but it's also a kind of elegy, marking the end of the golden age
0:29:33 > 0:29:36of Charles II.
0:29:37 > 0:29:42It was to be the final piece Gibbons completed for the "merry monarch",
0:29:42 > 0:29:46who died in 1685, to be succeeded by his brother.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54James II was the polar opposite of the clever, political Charles.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59Dictatorial, arrogant, James was openly Roman Catholic
0:29:59 > 0:30:03at a time when the religion was feared by his subjects.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11But like his brother,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14the new monarch did recognise Gibbons' talents.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17Impressed by the Cosimo Panel,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20James commissioned the carver to create a gift for another
0:30:20 > 0:30:23Italian aristocrat, the Duke of Modena.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28But the Modena Panel,
0:30:28 > 0:30:33housed in the city's museum, was to be a far darker
0:30:33 > 0:30:36and almost prophetic piece of work.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52Gibbons made this extraordinary panel for James II.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56And it's what we call a memento mori, a classical piece
0:30:56 > 0:30:59with the skull and the fruit.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03You can see that it's going. Everything is transient.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06There is a wonderful detail which is a song, in the middle, by Shirley,
0:31:06 > 0:31:11which says "The icy hand of death doth lay on kings
0:31:11 > 0:31:13"Septer and crown must tumble down."
0:31:15 > 0:31:19So, it's a very gloomy,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23modest piece for someone who has just become king.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27As if to say "I will only be here for a short while."
0:31:33 > 0:31:36The piece displays Gibbons' growing confidence.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39It even includes a self-portrait.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49But the imagery is so morbid, it seems to prefigure the downfall
0:31:49 > 0:31:51of his new patron.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10James couldn't help but display his Catholicism.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14He commissioned Gibbons to make another object.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18One that would've utterly appalled his Protestant subjects.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26It can now be found in the church of St James's, Piccadilly.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34This grand, Italian-style organ loft was originally constructed
0:32:34 > 0:32:38by Gibbons for James's private Catholic chapel -
0:32:38 > 0:32:42itself an inflammatory statement in a protestant country.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50It's full of angels and cherubs heralding the glory of God...
0:32:50 > 0:32:52and the crown.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04But also, within this church, is one of Gibbons' finest masterpieces.
0:33:04 > 0:33:10This reredos - a decorative screen behind the altar.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20It contains a beauty even hard-line protestants could enjoy.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23He avoided controversial pictures of the saints
0:33:23 > 0:33:27and instead drew on images from the natural world.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47Finna Ayres has managed St James' since 1999,
0:33:47 > 0:33:51and feels a special affinity for this type of religious sculpture,
0:33:51 > 0:33:53going back to being a child.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02My father was a sculptor in almost all materials you can imagine.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06He used to work in ivory, brick, stone and wood,
0:34:06 > 0:34:09so, yes, I think I knew about Grinling Gibbons
0:34:09 > 0:34:12before I knew about Enid Blyton, you know.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14We didn't have children's books at home,
0:34:14 > 0:34:16we had books on Grinling Gibbons!
0:34:16 > 0:34:19It is so abundant.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23It's air flying with the bird,
0:34:23 > 0:34:27it's the sea with the shells, grain to eat, it's flowers to enjoy.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29It's trying to keep alive
0:34:29 > 0:34:32and give immortality something which is perishable.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34You know, they will all be consumed and will rot away,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38but they're here now for ever, we can all see them.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42There's an intellectual part of me that doesn't like it
0:34:42 > 0:34:44because it's so excessive.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47And you know, it's a clever bloke that's showing off to toffs,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51so there are a few bits of it that I don't like at all.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55But it overwhelms me with how beautiful it is,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59how incredibly abundant it is, how rich it is.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03I like very much, something we don't do now, which, if you look at that,
0:35:03 > 0:35:07it's not at all symmetrical, and yet it's perfectly harmonious
0:35:07 > 0:35:10one side with the other and the top with the bottom.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13There's no repetition, there's no boring old symmetry.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17It's just very strong, terribly clever.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28James II's pride knew no bounds.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Like his brother Charles,
0:35:32 > 0:35:34he commissioned Gibbons to create
0:35:34 > 0:35:37a bronze statue of him as a Roman emperor,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41which today stands outside London's National Gallery.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49But this statue was in stark contrast to political reality -
0:35:49 > 0:35:52there was nothing triumphant about James' reign,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55as his Protestant court plotted to overthrow him.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02In 1688, a desperate James was forced to flee to France,
0:36:02 > 0:36:07at midnight - a coup which came to be known as the Glorious Revolution.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15And for Gibbons, this had to be a terrifying moment.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17He'd spent nearly two decades
0:36:17 > 0:36:20celebrating the glories of the Stuart kings.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24By now he was 40 years old,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27with a large family and studio to support -
0:36:27 > 0:36:30would his work fit in with the new regime?
0:36:38 > 0:36:43However, favour was to smile on the carver once more.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46Because after the fall of James,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48William of Orange took the throne -
0:36:48 > 0:36:52a Protestant but, just as importantly, a Dutchman.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57This was a monarch who was about the same age as Gibbons,
0:36:57 > 0:37:01who'd also imbued the spirit of the Dutch Golden Age.
0:37:01 > 0:37:06They spoke the same language, both literally and artistically.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11When William and his wife Mary chose to transform
0:37:11 > 0:37:13the palace of Hampton Court,
0:37:13 > 0:37:17Gibbons found his services in demand once again.
0:37:20 > 0:37:25William and Mary, from 1688, are the good Protestant monarchs.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29And everything must be a contrast to the Catholic James,
0:37:29 > 0:37:34who has now left. And when they remodel Hampton Court,
0:37:34 > 0:37:39it's plain, it's formal, and yet they want to employ
0:37:39 > 0:37:43the best of current craftsmanship,
0:37:43 > 0:37:44and Gibbons comes in there.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50And it's interesting, because the things that we love about him,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53some of the things, absolutely fall away -
0:37:53 > 0:37:56I mean, there are no lobsters and there's no drapery
0:37:56 > 0:37:59and there are no musical instruments -
0:37:59 > 0:38:03the playfulness and elaborate design has gone.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07And he uses this much simpler vocabulary, really,
0:38:07 > 0:38:09of fruit and flowers and swags.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17It's taking the best of the past,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20but it's not looking decadent or overdone any more.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33Gibbons created some of his most beautiful carvings
0:38:33 > 0:38:37for King William - but as a decorator,
0:38:37 > 0:38:39he wasn't above cutting a few corners,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43as you can see if you get up close and personal with his work.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01This is designed to be seen from below,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04and when you come up on the scaffolding,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07what you look at is what you shouldn't be seeing.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10So if you look at the top of this angel's head, for example,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13if you look at it from below, it is absolutely perfect.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17Lovely mouth, lovely nose, beautiful hair.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20And as you get towards the top where nobody sees it,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23you can see where the chisel has been.
0:39:23 > 0:39:28This is a carver who really knows what he's doing.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31And if you have at look round at the back of the bird,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34in order to make it light, can you see the little cuts inside,
0:39:34 > 0:39:37with a very tiny chisel - can you see that?
0:39:37 > 0:39:39And as a conservator, you can see that,
0:39:39 > 0:39:40and nobody else sees it,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43which is, I think, the reason we all become conservators,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45so we can look at stuff nobody else can!
0:39:47 > 0:39:48To achieve these kinds of effects,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Gibbons had literally hundreds of tools.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58He amassed them over a lifetime of carving,
0:39:58 > 0:40:00far more than any of his contemporaries.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11David Esterly has spent decades building up
0:40:11 > 0:40:13a collection of the kinds of implements
0:40:13 > 0:40:16that Gibbons would've had at his disposal.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21Why so many tools? Well, with wood...
0:40:23 > 0:40:28you slice through it, and it leaves behind on the wood
0:40:28 > 0:40:31the shape of the blade. Therefore, if you're doing
0:40:31 > 0:40:35something as complicated as the sort of very high relief,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39very naturalistic foliage carving that Gibbons is doing,
0:40:39 > 0:40:44then you need to have a multitude of tools to get the various shapes.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48You would have back-bent tools
0:40:48 > 0:40:51and front-bent tools for deep excavations
0:40:51 > 0:40:55and he would have had some really very sophisticated tools,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58for example, a front-bent veiner,
0:40:58 > 0:41:00a small tool which you would use
0:41:00 > 0:41:04for putting a vein of a leaf in at a very low level.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08One of the reasons why I'm sure
0:41:08 > 0:41:11that this is what Gibbons' tool bench would have looked like
0:41:11 > 0:41:16is that some of these tools go back almost halfway to Gibbons' era,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19and some of the old carvers wrote their names
0:41:19 > 0:41:22or stamped their names on their chisel handles.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25A Gordon. I wonder who he was.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28It's sort of like shaking hands with the old fellow
0:41:28 > 0:41:31whenever I use it, so there's a romance about these tools
0:41:31 > 0:41:34which affects me, even after all these years.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47And in the 1690s, Gibbons would've needed every one of his tools
0:41:47 > 0:41:51and tricks to please his most demanding patron yet.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56Because the most difficult client Gibbons ever had to deal with
0:41:56 > 0:41:59wasn't a monarch, but a duke,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02the owner of Petworth House in Sussex.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13One of the most influential men in Britain,
0:42:13 > 0:42:18and a close ally of King William, was Charles Seymour -
0:42:18 > 0:42:21and he was fully aware of his own importance.
0:42:23 > 0:42:28He was so famously vain, people called him the Proud Duke.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35There are all sorts of anecdotes about Charles Seymour,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38the Proud Duke, and why he was so proud.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43For a start, there's the one where he docked his daughter's inheritance
0:42:43 > 0:42:45by some 20-odd thousand pounds
0:42:45 > 0:42:48because she sat down in his presence.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50He was actually asleep at the time.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54There's another famous one where he dismissed one of the servants
0:42:54 > 0:42:57for turning his back upon him, forgetting the fact
0:42:57 > 0:42:59that the servant, poor chap, was actually fanning the fire
0:42:59 > 0:43:02with bellows and it's very difficult to do that
0:43:02 > 0:43:03without turning your back.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06So this is the sort of man we're talking about.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08But he was a very cultured man, and brought in
0:43:08 > 0:43:11many of the finest craftsmen in England
0:43:11 > 0:43:12to work at Petworth House,
0:43:12 > 0:43:14one of whom, of course, was Grinling Gibbons.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21This is Gibbons' masterpiece -
0:43:21 > 0:43:24a magnificent carved room,
0:43:24 > 0:43:29full of ingenious nods towards the Proud Duke's obsessions.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33We can certainly get a sense of his interest in gardening,
0:43:33 > 0:43:35which, of course, was very fashionable,
0:43:35 > 0:43:39in the wonderful floral arrangements represented by Gibbons.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43There are the great Grecian urns -
0:43:43 > 0:43:47there's very much an allusion there to the Proud Duke's interest
0:43:47 > 0:43:49in classical culture and so on and so forth.
0:43:51 > 0:43:56As we might expect, the Proud Duke was a Knight of the Garter.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59We can see very clearly the George hanging from a ribbon,
0:43:59 > 0:44:00as carved by Gibbons.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05But also music is represented very firmly here.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10Amid the violins in Gibbons' great musical group
0:44:10 > 0:44:13is an open manuscript of Purcell's Fairy Queen,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16which was hot off the press -
0:44:16 > 0:44:19it had only just been performed on the London stage in 1692.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24So it's a very important celebration
0:44:24 > 0:44:27of not only the Proud Duke's cultural sensibility,
0:44:27 > 0:44:30but also his connection with the royal court.
0:44:41 > 0:44:46It's completely jaw-dropping. Every time I walk into this room,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49I am completely overwhelmed by the brilliance of what surrounds me.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53Many people have just never really experienced
0:44:53 > 0:44:55anything like this before, and for a start,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59they are completely blown away with the sheer technical skill.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01It's something which is frequently remarked upon -
0:45:01 > 0:45:04how on earth could someone actually produce something like this?
0:45:08 > 0:45:11This room was a tribute to a Proud Duke.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14But if you look closely enough,
0:45:14 > 0:45:18you can see Grinling Gibbons' "GG" initials,
0:45:18 > 0:45:21facing away from each other in this great swirl.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27And by now, Gibbons could've been forgiven
0:45:27 > 0:45:30for displaying a fair bit of pride himself.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35You have to have a Gibbons if you've got a great house.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37You have to have a Gibbons surround.
0:45:37 > 0:45:42It's the piece to have to show off your wealth,
0:45:42 > 0:45:44your understanding of art.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47The must-have piece of decoration.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50And so he's risen way beyond being an artisan.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53He's now an artist.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07The dark days of Deptford were now well behind him -
0:46:07 > 0:46:10as early as the 1670s,
0:46:10 > 0:46:13he'd established premises inside the City of London,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16in the fashionable Ludgate Hill area.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21And throughout his career,
0:46:21 > 0:46:24a number of portraits were completed of Gibbons.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26They were all to have one thing in common -
0:46:26 > 0:46:28they NEVER showed him in the role
0:46:28 > 0:46:32for which he was most famous - as a wood carver!
0:46:33 > 0:46:37I think he wanted to project an image of himself as a gentleman.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41There's a marvellous engraving of Grinling Gibbons and his wife,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45and they could almost be a duke and duchess.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50There's another marvellous painting of Grinling Gibbons
0:46:50 > 0:46:53holding compasses with a head - and very interestingly,
0:46:53 > 0:46:57that head is from a sculpture by Bernini,
0:46:57 > 0:47:00so he clearly saw himself in the footsteps
0:47:00 > 0:47:02of the great sculptors of the past.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Having a studio in Ludgate Hill,
0:47:08 > 0:47:11Gibbons would also have seen first-hand
0:47:11 > 0:47:16the gradual rebuilding of the most potent symbol of London itself -
0:47:16 > 0:47:18St Paul's Cathedral.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the aftermath of the Great Fire,
0:47:23 > 0:47:27this was the most important building project of the 17th century.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31And every craftsman,
0:47:31 > 0:47:34especially one as ambitious as Gibbons,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36was desperate to be a part of it.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Gibbons had a big problem, though -
0:47:40 > 0:47:44Wren was decidedly not a fan of his work.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48Wren met Gibbons very early on,
0:47:48 > 0:47:49but he was singularly unimpressed
0:47:49 > 0:47:54and didn't actually use Gibbons for a good decade.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Wren's architecture is always quite severe -
0:47:58 > 0:48:01he's always worried about being accused of being popish.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06This wildly over-decorated stuff is just too close to Italian baroque.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12But eventually, Grinling Gibbons becomes so famous
0:48:12 > 0:48:14that he cannot not employ him.
0:48:14 > 0:48:20And, of course, it is at St Paul's we see this most dramatically.
0:48:23 > 0:48:29At last, Wren fully embraced the exuberant style of Gibbons,
0:48:29 > 0:48:33and his work decorated the most important part of his cathedral.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37The choir is where everything is going to happen.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40So this has to be the grandest, the most dramatic,
0:48:40 > 0:48:42the most splendid piece of the whole cathedral.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45And so this has to be the bit
0:48:45 > 0:48:48where you use the greatest carver of the age.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50You have to use Grinling Gibbons.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03This is Gibbons' most personal work.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11Many believe the faces of the putti are based on his own children.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18This is a wonderfully rhythmic design,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21with the putti, and the lovely swags going along.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26And the light limewood reliefs that we associate with Gibbons
0:49:26 > 0:49:31sort of merge into the darker oak surrounds,
0:49:31 > 0:49:33so that too is like tradition,
0:49:33 > 0:49:38because the oak is the absolutely central British wood.
0:49:43 > 0:49:48As spectacular as Gibbons' work appears in St Paul's today,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51we can only really glimpse a little of the splendour
0:49:51 > 0:49:53the carver intended for the cathedral.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58He constructed a grand organ case,
0:49:58 > 0:50:02separating the choir stalls from the rest of the church,
0:50:02 > 0:50:05that now only survives in old drawings.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09In the Victorian era,
0:50:09 > 0:50:13worshippers turned against Gibbons' baroque work -
0:50:13 > 0:50:18it was broken in half, and pushed to either side of the choir stalls,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21much of it lost on the way.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27And the destruction at St Paul's
0:50:27 > 0:50:31gives a clue to the strange downfall of Grinling Gibbons.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Even as he was putting the finishing touches to the cathedral,
0:50:36 > 0:50:41his elaborate form of woodcarving was falling out of favour.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46Fashions changed.
0:50:46 > 0:50:51A plainer style came into play.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53Famously, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough
0:50:53 > 0:50:57talked about how she didn't want a single thing carved in her house -
0:50:57 > 0:51:03she wanted her wainscoting as plain and simple as a lady's face -
0:51:03 > 0:51:09and gradually the taste for elaborate baroque carving faded.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12It was a very sad thing for Gibbons,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15because he had an extraordinary workshop
0:51:15 > 0:51:17and no work, really, for them.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20Even at Hampton Court, the writing is on the wall.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24That was a very low profit operation for Gibbons.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28He was paid very, very little for his grand overmantels there -
0:51:28 > 0:51:31I think it's 28, 30 pounds,
0:51:31 > 0:51:35that sort of price, which was not enough, not enough -
0:51:35 > 0:51:38he clearly did it at a loss to keep his workshop together.
0:51:39 > 0:51:45And thereafter, work just began to dry up for him.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52For Gibbons, this change of fashion was a professional disaster.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58At the end of the 17th century, the 50-year-old carver
0:51:58 > 0:52:01could no longer make a living just from wood.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07His workshop had always worked in other mediums,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10but now the only way to make ends meet
0:52:10 > 0:52:12was by constructing marble tombs.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20But Gibbons' peers were absolutely scathing about his efforts in stone.
0:52:24 > 0:52:30He was constantly harried by complaints during these years.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34Some of his sculptures were sent back to be reworked.
0:52:34 > 0:52:40With some, he was urged to take a reduction in the price.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43He never did master the human figure.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48The energy which there might've been in the human form,
0:52:48 > 0:52:52he was only able to express somehow in his foliage.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59In the early 18th century, his reputation was fatally breached
0:52:59 > 0:53:02by a damning review of this work in Westminster Abbey,
0:53:02 > 0:53:06the tomb of the naval officer Cloudesley Shovell.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11The influential critic Joseph Addison
0:53:11 > 0:53:14wrote it was a matter of "great offence"
0:53:14 > 0:53:19that the manly Shovell should be depicted as a dandy,
0:53:19 > 0:53:21"reposing himself on a velvet cushion."
0:53:29 > 0:53:34When Gibbons died in 1721 at the age of 73,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37he was buried not in St Paul's Cathedral,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41but the less prestigious St Paul's, Covent Garden.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46This great craftsman was yesterday's man.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53He was given no monument at the time of his death.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57This limewood carving was only placed here,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00at the back of the church, in the 1960s.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15Gibbons might have been written out of history,
0:54:15 > 0:54:19but for one eccentric art collector and taste-maker
0:54:19 > 0:54:22who was three years of age when the carver died.
0:54:24 > 0:54:29Horace Walpole loved going against the grain.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31In the mid 18th century,,
0:54:31 > 0:54:33when the taste was for classical architecture,
0:54:33 > 0:54:38he constructed a gothic mansion, Strawberry Hill -
0:54:38 > 0:54:43and he used the house to celebrate the unfashionable Gibbons.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55This carving of a cravat, once owned by Walpole,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03Walpole prized this piece very highly.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05He kept it in a glass case
0:55:05 > 0:55:10in the Tribune Room at his Thameside villa Strawberry Hill.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14It's essentially a virtuoso demonstration
0:55:14 > 0:55:18of the carver's skill. He's portrayed a length
0:55:18 > 0:55:23of super-expensive Venetian needle lace,
0:55:23 > 0:55:29the most opulent and expensive dress accessory of its day,
0:55:29 > 0:55:33and Walpole even mentions this cravat
0:55:33 > 0:55:38as "an art which arrives even unto deception,"
0:55:38 > 0:55:40and he describes in a letter
0:55:40 > 0:55:45how he'd received a party of foreign guests at the villa,
0:55:45 > 0:55:50and he met them at the gates wearing the cravat around his neck.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55And he describes the visitors staring at him,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58presumably incredulous that an English gentleman
0:55:58 > 0:56:01would dress like this. We can also see -
0:56:01 > 0:56:04it's perhaps easier looking at the back -
0:56:04 > 0:56:07the way that a number of these pierced loops
0:56:07 > 0:56:11have actually been broken off, and I can't help but speculate
0:56:11 > 0:56:14how many of those loops might've been broken off
0:56:14 > 0:56:17during Horace Walpole's practical joke.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27Gibbons' work was honed in the service of the royal court,
0:56:27 > 0:56:29and delighted eccentrics like Horace Walpole.
0:56:31 > 0:56:36But does this decoration of grand houses and baroque ornamentation
0:56:36 > 0:56:38have any relevance to the modern world?
0:56:40 > 0:56:44Why should we care about a woodcarver who fell out of fashion
0:56:44 > 0:56:46even within his own lifetime?
0:56:52 > 0:56:56In the 17th century, Gibbons' woodcarving was valued
0:56:56 > 0:57:00for its triumphal relationship to the natural world.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04In other words, this showed the great families' command
0:57:04 > 0:57:06over earth and ocean and sky.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11But that sort of triumphalism is something
0:57:11 > 0:57:14that's likely to make us nervous these days.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21Gibbons' carvings are all about the beauty of the natural world,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24which we're in the midst of laying waste to now.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26So there's a kind of poignancy.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33Looking at Gibbons' work, partly you look at it and think,
0:57:33 > 0:57:34"How did he do it?"
0:57:34 > 0:57:37It draws you in like a painting,
0:57:37 > 0:57:41and yet you know, it's so tactile,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45you know that someone has actually worked that with their hands.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50It's something that schoolchildren should be taught.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53It should become a national curriculum, to learn to wood-carve.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57If children were taken to museums to see work like this,
0:57:57 > 0:57:59it would inspire people. I'm sure it would.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05I don't think somebody like me needs to tell you to go and see Gibbons.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08I think if you come across Gibbons, it's breathtaking.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13It is...just like nothing else.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28In the next episode,
0:58:28 > 0:58:33we'll see how medieval carvers and carpenters transformed wood
0:58:33 > 0:58:38into images of the divine that still astound us today.
0:58:58 > 0:59:02Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd