Gilbert was born in Blackheath, London, beginning his career as an estate agent's clerk. After studying the Royal Academy's collection of Gilbert drawings, Davies concluded that the artist's 'kinetic' graphic work was the element that justified his status as a 'real artist'. Davies, for instance, in an article about Gilbert published in 1932, noted that these drawings were compiled by the artist, stating: 'It was evidently a labour of love rather than of duty to rescue these studies and scraps from the portfolio and enshrine them in volumes, and there seems to be very little method or order in their arrangement'. As such, the RA group was of some interest to the artist's early biographers and other commentators. Also represented here are his topographical sketches of landscapes and architecture, in particular of the area around Blackheath in south London where he lived for most of his life.Īs Gilbert noted in his presentation letter to the Academy, the material in these albums and sketchbooks constitutes a record of his life's work. They range in date from the early 1850s to the late 1880s and most of them relate to Gilbert's oil and watercolour paintings or to his work as an illustrator. Gilbert compiled the drawings, also inscribing and dating them, though often retrospectively. He wrote that the volumes of "sketches and Studies in Watercolours, Pen and Pencil, in many cases first thoughts and designs and material for pictures afterwards painted in Oil and Watercolours.A considerable portion of my life work is here and for these books and their contents I confess to hold a great regard and affection". These drawings were presented to the Royal Academy by the artist in 1889.
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