Gibbs, Hinton

Introduction:

Born to 'alehouse keepers' John and Sarah Gibbs in Bedford in 1783, HINTON GIBBS (1783-1839) became a highly skilled exponent of painting profiles on the underside of convex glass - a particularly difficult technique to master. Working from the early 1800s into the mid-1820s, his extant profiles are relatively common. A very small number of portrait miniatures on ivory are also recorded.

With finely applied detail, the fashions of Gibbs' female sitters are meticulously observed and generally speaking, almost half-length. Conversely, male sitters are painted almost entirely black with hair developed with a needle while other detail is brush-painted. Occasionally colour is used to enhance the apparel of both sexes. Bustline terminations vary and profiles without terminations are recorded.

Ten trade labels are now recorded: all bar one are briefly worded, e.g. "H. Gibbs. Profilist". However, a recently sourced undated printed label, fortunately lengthy, details working methods and prices.

Likenesses were offered "...from one shilling to five on Paper and Glass...". Works could be reduced for rings, brooches and lockets, and Gibbs stated "Many years practice enables him...[to take]...a correct likeness on Glass by the EYE". Though advertised, no jewellery-sized or works in paper appear recorded.

The 'Achilles heel' of Gibbs' output is the pale wax infill he applied to the back of his works. Its lack of durability caused many profiles to be rebacked with card, and a substantial number have been compromised or ruined, especially when attempting to remove fractured wax from frames.

Three studio addresses in Chelsea, handwritten on the rear of works, are known. Two signed "No. 4 Bridge Row, Chelsea, 1815" and "Queen St. Ranelagh, Chelsea" are likely the same place.

Only 4 newspaper advertisements have been discovered. THE BURY AND NORWICH EVENING POST of the 1st of November 1815 shows Gibbs located at Sudbury, Suffolk making mention of the "generous...benevolence [shown to]...the welfare of his family" , suggesting perhaps personal financial pressures, as at the time the nation was sliding into a post-war depression.

Six years later the OXFORD UNIVERSITY AND CITY HERALD of the 27th of October 1821, finds Gibbs more buoyant, boasting he could take profiles from recollection and that "several...respectable Artists...considered his Profile Likenesses the best they had seen". Perhaps the favourable observations induced Gibbs to apply a threefold increase for his work to 15 shillings "frame included".

On the 17th of May 1823, another advertisement in the OXFORD UNIVERSITY AND CITY HERALD related "Mr. Gibbs is returned to Oxford and...will be happy to take LIKENESSES IN PROFILE OR COLOUR PAINTING...". The reference to "...COLOUR PAINTING" is intriguing. While Gibbs occasionally introduced colour to his profiles, the term 'colour painting' arguably indicates a different aspect of artistry, though as far as known, no attributable 'colour paintings' have come to light.

One trade label, possibly his first, is printed "By H. GIBBS. BEDS MILITIA". Gibbs served in the unit from 1793 to 1815, supplementing income by producing profiles from some time after 1800, though why he opted to master the technically difficult art of painting on convex glass, is unknown. It's feasible, though unprovable, he may have been taught by somebody already conversant with the art.

Organised by counties, militias were assembled or 'embodied' during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Frequently moved from station to station, in part to reduce the risk of rank and file becoming sympathetic to communities they might need to police, they often guarded coastal areas to counter the threat of invasion. Conscripted by ballot unless they could pay a substitute, recruits received approximately 5 guineas, and boys 3 guineas. When balloted in 1793 HINTON GIBBS was 10 years old. Initially a drummer, by 1796 he was ranked a private, by 1800 a corporal.

Likely the most significant posting for Gibbs was in Exeter as he wed Eliza Sanders (1785 - after 1851) there in December 1804. In 1806 Gibbs was stationed on the Isle of Wight. His wife was with him and gave birth to their first child Sarah (1807-1864) at Freshwater. Sarah, confirmed by recent research, later became profilist "Miss Gibbs". Eliza bore 5 more children: Eliza in 1810, Hinton Jnr in 1813, James in 1816, John in 1819, and Harriet Emma in 1821. Three  were baptised at Bedford's Harpur St. Wesleyan chapel, indicating Gibbs and his wife were Non-Conformists. Son John was baptised in a Wesleyan chapel in Scarborough, likely while Gibbs was working there, though no advertisements have come to light.

The penultimate record of Hinton Gibbs appears in the TAUNTON COURIER of the 21st of September 1825, where he announces his profilist daughter's "...early departure from Taunton". Gibbs is known to have chaperoned daughter Sarah on a tour of Devon and Cornwall between June 1824 and September 1825. Sarah, aka "Miss Gibbs" only produced cutwork. However, in an advertisement in the NORTH DEVON JOURNAL of July 3rd 1825, among "Miss Gibbs'' " listed prices were "Beautiful Specimens in Glass 15 shillings and upward". Undoubtedly they were by Hinton Gibbs, as offering his own profiles wouid have made sound business sense to maximise the tour's profitability. How, and in what capacity Gibbs applied himself for the next 14 years, is a mystery, as no profiles with sitters datable to the 1830s, have ever been recorded

Aged 56, Hinton Gibbs died at Astbury, Cheshire on the 27th of March 1839. Why he was there, or if he was merely intending to pass through the small township, is unknown, and a conundrum that will likely remain unresolved.

Revised 6 January 2023 (Brian Wellings - with research assistance by Cynthia McKinley)

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