Cajus Gabriel Cibber

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Cajus Gabriel Cibber

Cajus Gabriel Cibber , also Caius Gabriel Cibber (* around 1630 in Flensburg as Kai Gabriel ; † 1700 in London ), was a Danish sculptor and architect .

Life

Cajus Gabriel Cibber was a son of the cabinet maker and carver Claus Gabriel († 1654). The father later worked as a court carpenter for the Danish king in Frederiksborg and Kronborg. His mother Margarethe, née Jörgensdatter, died in 1655 at the earliest. The ancestors of the families worked as artists and artisans in Flensburg and brought Dutch and German elements to Schleswig and Denmark as Renaissance carvers.

Friedrich III. visited Flensburg in 1674 and recognized Cajus Gabriel Cibber's talent for drawing. He financed a study trip to Italy, the duration of which is unknown. Cibber probably traveled south via Amsterdam, where he saw works by Michelangelo , Giovanni da Bologna and Pietro Tacca . He learned from Bernini and probably took the surname "Cibber" during this time. The choice could go back to the names Sievers, Sieverts or Siewert, which can be found in Dithmarschen ; since he took over a coat of arms of the noble Italian family "Cibo", the choice of the surname could also be due to it.

Cibber traveled from Italy to Amsterdam again. Here he worked in the sculpture town of Hendrick de Keyser and his sons. De Keyser had a son-in-law named Nicholas († 1647), who worked as a sculptor in England and had a son named John Stone. This son took over his father's workshop in 1647. Cibber moved to London in the late 1650s and worked for John Stone, who died in 1667. Then Cibber worked as a freelance artisan. Since his father was not a master, Cibber bought on April 3, 1668 for 25 pounds a membership in the guild of leather merchants.

In England he received many commissions and was quickly considered one of the most important sculptors in the kingdom. On May 30, 1693 he received the title of "Sculptor in Ordinary of the King". Towards the end of his life he also worked as an architect.

Works

The bagpiper from 1680
Coat of arms of the England drivers of the Hanseatic League , today in the Museum of London

Cibber mostly worked with wood, lead, shell limestone, other types of stone and marble. As a sculptor, he cooperated with Christopher Wren , who recommended him several times. This is how works were created at Trinity College and Hampton Court . Initially, he designed busts of Cromwell and the Earl of Essex, a coat of arms for the Hanseatic merchants and statues of English royalty for the London Stock Exchange . In addition, with the "Monument" he created a column that was reminiscent of the Great Fire of London and that bears the relief "King Charles II leads the reconstruction of London".

In the 1670s, Cibber created the "Sackville Monument" in Withyham Church, a marble tomb that is reminiscent of Thomas Sackville . In 1680 he created the sculptures “Der Wahnsinn” and “Die Melancholie” for the Bethlem Royal Hospital . These recumbent grave figures are reminiscent of the Medicean graves designed by Michelangelo and were later transferred to the Guildhall Museum. Around this time he also designed the clay model "The Rage", which can be seen in the Bode Museum . There were also figures for Trinity College, a fountain in Soho Square and the "bagpiper".

From 1687 to 1690 Cibber designed the castle Chatsworth House for William Cavendish . For the gardens he created, among other things, two large sphinxes and fountain figures, a triton, figures of deities, grottos and artificial waterfalls. There were also two large vases cast in lead depicting Bacchus and a drunken Silenus . For the chapel of the castle he created an altar with life-size figures of “Faith” and “Justice”, for the stairwell the statues “Apollo” and “Pallas Athene”.

From 1694 to 1698 Cibber worked in London. He designed a gable triangle with the large relief "The Triumph of Hercules" for Christopher Wren at Hampton Court Palace . There were also coats of arms of the royal couple of England, statues of "Flora", "Pomona", "Ceres" and "Diana", as well as marble vases and urns. During this period he also worked as an architect in Wellclose Square, London , for the Danish Church, consecrated on November 15, 1696, for the construction of which Christian V. had donated £ 4,600. The building existed until it was demolished in 1869. The Dutch engraver Krip made two engravings showing the interior and an exterior view of the building. On one of the engravings, Cibber called himself “C. Gabriel Cibber, Flensburg, Architektus ”. As the lead sculptures “Caritas”, “Hope” and “Faith” preserved in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek show, the church had elaborate sculptural decorations.

Towards the end of his life, Cibber worked with Christopher Wren on St Paul's Cathedral . He designed the keystones of the vault, a “phoenix” for the gable and finials for the south side portal of the church.

family

Cajus Gabriel Cibber married twice. While the name of the first wife is unknown, the second wife was Jane Colley (1646-1697), a daughter of William Colley and Jane Wirly. The couple had a daughter and two sons, one of whom Colley Cibber became a noted actor and stage poet.

literature

Web links

Commons : Caius Gabriel Cibber  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911, pp. 350-351 ( Wikisource ).
personal data
SURNAME Cibber, Cajus Gabriel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cibber, Caius Gabriel; Gabriel, Kai
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish sculptor and architect
DATE OF BIRTH around 1630
PLACE OF BIRTH Flensburg
DATE OF DEATH 1700
Place of death London