John Gibson, an English sculptor, born at Conway, North Wales, in 1791, died in Rome, Jan. 27, 1866. His father, who was a market gardener, removed to Liverpool, and young Gibson, after endeavoring to prevail on his parents to allow him to study painting, was apprenticed at the age of 14 to a cabinet maker, and soon after to a wood carver. He attracted the attention of Messrs. Francis, marble cutters, who purchased his indentures and took him into their employment. Through one of the partners in this firm he was introduced to William Roscoe, the historian, who encouraged him to pursue the career of a sculptor, and was instrumental in raising a fund in Liverpool to enable him to study in Italy. In 1817 he went to Rome, with letters from Flax-man to Canova, who received him as a pupil and gave him all the assistance in his power. In 1821 he produced his first important work, a group of Mars and Cupid," now at Chats-worth. On the death of Canova in 1822, Gibson studied for a short time with Thorwaldsen. In 1827 he sent his Psyche and the Zephyrs to the exhibition of the royal academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1833, and a member in 1836. Most of his works are portrait statues, and ideal pieces founded on classic models.

Of the former, the best known are his statues of Queen Victoria in Buckingham palace, at Osborne, and in the new palace at Westminster, those of Huskisson in Liverpool, and of Sir Robert Peel and George Stephenson. His ideal figures and bass reliefs are imbued with the spirit of Greek art. Refinement of feeling, high poetical imagination, exceeding gracefulness of form and expression, and an almost unrivalled delicacy of execution characterize this class of his sculptures. He was the first of modern sculptors who had the daring to introduce color into their works. In some of the subordinate details the statue of the queen and the Aurora were slightly tinted, but the Venus, which attracted much attention at the international exhibition in 1862, showed the innovation carried to its furthest limit. This statue is entirely colored of a flesh tint, and the eyes, hair, and parts of the drapery counterfeit the resemblance to actual life as nearly as color can do it. Gibson also adhered to the practice of habiting his modern figures in classic costume.

With the exception of a few short visits to England, he lived almost uninterruptedly in Rome.-See "Life of John Gibson," edited by Lady Eastlake (1869).