27 Facts About James Gibbs

James Gibbs is an important figure whose work spanned the transition between English Baroque architecture and Georgian architecture heavily influenced by Andrea Palladio.

The naming of the James Gibbs surround for doors and windows, which he certainly did not invent, testifies to this influence.

James Gibbs's architectural style did incorporate Palladian elements, as well as forms from Italian Baroque and Inigo Jones, but was most strongly influenced by the work of Sir Christopher Wren, who was an early supporter of Gibbs.

James Gibbs later travelled through Europe, visiting Flanders, France, Switzerland and Germany.

James Gibbs would have been studying for the Catholic priesthood but had second thoughts.

The Earl persuaded James Gibbs to remain in London, offering him his first commission, alterations to his house in Whitehall.

James Gibbs was one of the sixty founder members of Godfrey Kneller's Academy of Painting, founded in 1711.

In 1720 James Gibbs was invited along with other architects to enter a competition to design a new church to replace the dilapidated church of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Horace Walpole described James Gibbs as being around 1720 as "the architect most in vogue".

In 1720 James Gibbs was approached by the Provost of King's College, Cambridge to complete the college.

James Gibbs produced a second larger design in 1722, consisting of a courtyard building with two projecting wings to the east, 189 by 118 feet.

James Gibbs offered his service for free, and designed a quadrangle of 200 by 160 feet with four near-identical plain blocks.

James Gibbs was given it thanks to John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, who was Master-General of the Ordnance and in 1729 he was elected to the Royal Society.

One of the most serious disappointments of James Gibbs's career was his failure to win the commission for the Mansion House, London.

James Gibbs was awarded by Oxford University an honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1749 recognition of the completion of the Radcliffe Camera.

James Gibbs is known to have owned at least 117 paintings, including works by Canaletto, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Sebastiano Ricci, Antoine Watteau and Willem van de Velde the Younger.

Sculptures owned by James Gibbs included a bust of Flora by Francois Girardon, a bust of Matthew Prior by Antoine Coysevox and busts of Alexander Pope and James Gibbs by Rysbrack.

James Gibbs held this post for two years, until he was forced out by the Whigs, because of his Tory sympathies, and replaced by John James.

James Gibbs completed the Gothic Temple, a triangular folly at Stowe, Buckinghamshire, and now one of the properties leased and maintained by the Landmark Trust.

James Gibbs designed one church for the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, St Mary le Strand.

Between 1721 and 1726 James Gibbs designed his most important and influential work, the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, located in Trafalgar Square, London.

In 1733 James Gibbs was commissioned by Lord Foley to adapt the chapel from Cannons House, as the parish church at Great Witley.

In 1723 James Gibbs was appointed a governor of St Bartholomew's Hospital, which led to him being commissioned to redesign the hospital.

However, this plan was abandoned in favour of a circular plan by James Gibbs, which drew on Hawksmoor's 1715 scheme, although it was very different in detail.

James Gibbs' design saw him returning to his Italian mannerist sources, and in particular shows the influence of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, by Baldassarre Longhena.

James Gibbs published the first edition of A Book of Architecture, containing designs of buildings and ornaments in 1728, dedicated to one of his patrons John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll.

James Gibbs was the first British architect to publish a book devoted to his own designs.