AN EXHIBITION of carvings is on display at an historic North Yorkshire house.
Fairfax House is hosting The Genius of Grinling Gibbons: From Journeyman to King’s Carver, to mark the 370th anniversary of Grinling Gibbons' birth, and 350 years since his time working as a journeyman in York.
The exhibit is the first in 20 years to focus on his work, and charts his development from obscurity to the country’s most celebrated master-carver, working for the King himself.
Fairfax House has secured on loan an array of beautiful and priceless works by Paul’s Cathedral, The Bodleian, Sir John Soane’s Museum, Canterbury Cathedral and the National Portrait Gallery, which display Gibbons’ talent and ability to completely transform the medium of wood.
One of the master-carver’s most iconic pieces, Gibbons’ 'lace' cravat, has also been lent by the Victoria and Albert Museum - carved from limewood, the piece was worn in 1769 by Horace Walpole to fool some distinguished French, Spanish and Portuguese visitors who believed this was the dress of an English country gentleman.
The exhibition also celebrates the homecoming of Gibbons’ King David Panel, saved from sale and international export by Fairfax House in 2017, thanks to a major fundraising campaign.
Hannah Phillip, Fairfax House director, said: "Fairfax House holds very dear its responsibilities as the custodian of this piece of national history. Grinling Gibbons’ King David panel has been tucked away in private collections all through its life, and we are determined that this at last shall no longer be the case."
The exhibition runs until September 14.
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