Portrait of The Right Reverend Father Edmund Gibson, Lord Bishop of London

Date1737-1756

Engraver John Faber Jr. (1684 - 1756)

After work by John Vanderbank (1694 - 1739)

OriginEngland, London

MediumMezzotint engraving on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 13 15/16 × 10in. (35.4 × 25.4cm)

Credit LineGift of Professor & Mrs. John Reps.

Object number1982-234

DescriptionLower margin reads: "I. Vanderbank pinx.t 1737./ I. Faber fecit/ The Right Reverend Father in/ God Edmund Gibson Lord/ Bishop of LONDON Dean of/ his Maj.ties Chapels Royal & one/ /of his Maj.ties most Honourable/ Privy Council./ Sold by Faber at the Golden Head in Bloomsbury Square."
Label TextPortraits of religious leaders were sometimes commissioned by followers or congregations and sometimes engraved as prints to share the likeness of a respected faith leaders. In his role as Bishop of London, Edmund Gibson was also responsible for the Anglican church in the North American Colonies. Soon after becoming Bishop, he received a letter from an unknown group of enslaved people in Virginia who were Christians. The authors of the letter, writing in secrecy, asked Gibson to use his influence to end slavery and begged on behalf themselves and other enslaved parents, “wee desire that our Childarn be putt to Scool and and Larnd to Reed through the Bybell.” [“we desire that our Children be put to School and learned to Read Through the Bible”] Gibson wrote a treatise calling for the religious education and conversion of people of African descent in the colonies. He also wrote an open letter to enslavers urging them to allow the people they enslaved to be baptized. Basic reading skills and understanding of the Doctrine of the Church of England were foundational to Anglicanism. Gibson’s letter inspired fear among enslavers who grew worried that education would empower enslaved people to rise up.
ProvenanceBefore 1982, John Reps [1921-2020] (Ithaca, NY); 1982-present, given to The Colonial Williamasburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).