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Between the few abstract forms, representing a general type of foliage, so dear to the heart of the medieval carver, and the unstinted variety of choice displayed in the works of Grinling Gibbons and his time, there is such a wide difference that surely it points to a corresponding disparity of aim.
There were intricate carvings of the Sheraton and Chippendale periods, and there were the wonderful floral sprays, cherubs, and other ornaments so cunningly wrought by Grinling Gibbons and his followers. Wooden ornament in those days took the form of over-doors, and wreaths running down the lintels; and massive mantelpieces of oak were carved deeply.
You can get an effect of great dignity by the use of molding at a few cents a foot. A large panel would take the place of the Grinling Gibbons carving, and a mirror might be inset above the fireplace instead of the portrait. The dining-table and chairs might give place to good reproductions of Chippendale, and the marble console to a carpenter-made one painted to match the woodwork.
It is only in the hands of a Grinling Gibbons that the carving tool can create miracles of aerial lightness from the solid wood. The light yet firm touch tells not of weakness, but of power held in reserve; and if we realise our own out-and-out spiritual nature we know that behind any measure of power we may put forth there is the whole reserve of the infinite to back us up.
Of wood carvings the most beautiful are Grinling Gibbons' work at Trinity and Queen's, and the most interesting the old oak altar at Wadham, brought there from Ilminster, the home of Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, the founders of the College.
The wood-carvings of Grinling Gibbons that adorn this room, of flowers, fruit, wheat, grasshoppers, birds, are of singular beauty, and make the hard oak fairly blossom and live. This library contains the most complete collection of the various editions of Shakespeare's Works which exists. Thorwaldsen's statue of Byron, who was a student of this college, stands at the south end of the room.
Jacobean furniture. Charles Eastlake Monuments at Canterbury and Westminster Settles, Couches, and Chairs of the Stuart period Sir Paul Pindar's House Cromwellian Furniture The Restoration Indo-Portuguese Furniture Hampton Court Palace Evelyn's description The Great Fire of London Hall of the Brewers' Company Oak Panelling of the time Grinling Gibbons and his work The Edict of Nantes Silver Furniture at Knole William III. and Dutch influence Queen Anne Sideboards, Bureaus, and Grandfather's Clocks Furniture at Hampton Court.
Indeed, in this magnificent hall, about the most spacious of the old City Corporation Palaces, there is a great deal of new work mixed with old new chimney-pieces and old overmantels some of Grinling Gibbons' carved enrichments, so painted and varnished as to have lost much of their character; these have been applied to the oak panels in the large dining hall.
He is said to have given away his whole fortune in charity. It is to him we owe the statue of Charles II. in Roman dress which stands in the centre of the Hospital court. This statue is made of bronze, and there is a companion one of James II., a gift from the same benefactor, in Whitehall. Walpole attributes one of these to Grinling Gibbons, but which one is uncertain.
Opposite to the Peterborough monument at the west end is a very large marble monument in memory of Dorothy Clarke, and her second husband. A great marble urn upon it is said by Bowack to have been the work of Grinling Gibbons, and to have cost £300. A memorial window to Archbishop Tait is fixed in the west end of the south aisle.
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