riend and patron. He
remained in Liverpool until he was twenty-seven years old; he had
improved every advantage within his reach, but he was very desirous of
travelling. In 1817, armed with a few letters of introduction, he went
to London, where he obtained several orders, and in October of that year
went to Rome.

He had a letter to Canova, who took him under his care and gave him
admission to the classes in the Academy, in which he could draw from
living models. In 1819 he received his first important commission; it
was from the Duke of Devonshire for a group of Mars and Cupid. From this
time he advanced steadily in his profession, and was always busy. He
lived twenty-seven years in Rome, and passed his summers in Innsbrueck.

In 1844 he went to Liverpool to oversee the erection of his statue of
Mr. Huskisson; he was received with enthusiasm, and when he went to
Glasgow to superintend the placing of his statue of Mr. Finlay in the
Merchants' Hall his reception was even more flattering, as it was given
him simply as an artist, and not connected with any former associations,
as in Liverpool. During this visit to England Gibson was summoned to
Windsor to make a statue of Queen Victoria, which he completed after
his return to Rome. The queen was represented in a classical costume,
and the diadem, sandals, and borders of the drapery were colored. This
was very much criticised and much was written and said about it; Gibson
took little notice of all this, and simply answered it by saying,
"Whatever the Greeks did was right."

In 1851 Gibson sustained a great loss in the death of his brother Ben,
who had lived with him in Rome for fourteen years. Five years later,
when in perfect health, the sculptor was attacked by paralysis, and
lived but a short time. He was buried in the English cemetery at Rome,
and Lord Lytton wrote the inscription upon his monument. It says: "His
native genius strengthened by careful study, he infused the spirit of
Grecian art into masterpieces all his own. His character as a man was in
unison with his attributes as an artist--beautiful in its simplicity and
truthfulness, noble in its dignity and elevation." A monument was also
raised to Gibson in the church at Conway.

The master left the models of all his works and the larger part of his
fortune to the Royal Academy in London. Among his works are Mars and
Cupid, at Chatsworth; Psyche borne by Zephyrs, in the Palazzo Torlonia,
at Rome, and a repli