Thomas Gibson (artist)
Thomas Gibson was an English painter and copyist.Life
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, John Flamsteed, Sir Robert Walpole, Archbishop William Wake and Archbishop John Potter. His most constant patron was John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett, 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.
