2-721-455 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'R. Gibson', 1830. Portrait of English painter Richard Gibson (c1615-1690), 'commonly called the Dwarf, was originally page to a lady; who, observing his genius for painting, generously had him instructed. He devoted himself to Sir Peter Lely's style and copied his pictures to admiration. He was in great favor with Charles I., who made him his page of the back-stairs; and he had the honor to instruct in drawing queen Mary II., and queen Anne, when princesses. He married Anne Shepherd, who was also a dwarf. Gibson died in the seventy-fifth year of his age; and his wife, having survived him almost twenty years, died in 1709, aged eighty-nine'. From "Biographical Illustrations", by Alfred Howard. [Thomas Tegg, R. Griffin and Co., J. Cumming, London, Glasgow and Dublin, 1830]