Thomas Gibson (artist)

Thomas Gibson (born London, c. 1680; died London, 28 April 1751) was an English painter and copyist.

He was an established portrait painter by 1711, when he was appointed a founding director of Godfrey Kneller's Academy in London; among his pupils there was George Vertue. Gibson's sitters included a number of important public figures: Dr Henry Sacheverell (1710; Oxford, Magdalen Coll.), John Flamsteed (1712; Oxford, Bodleian Lib.), Sir Robert Walpole (untraced; engr. G. Bockman), Archbishop William Wake (Oxford, Christ Church Pict. Gal.) and Archbishop John Potter (London, Lambeth Pal.). His most constant patron was John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett (1663–1743), who commissioned a great number of originals and copies.

Gibson's career was interrupted in 1729-31 by serious illness, and he was obliged to sell his collection and for a time retire to Oxford. After resuming his practice he was patronized by Augusta, Princess of Wales, who in 1742 commissioned a group portrait of her four children, as well as her own portrait (both British Royal Col.).

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