JACKSON, Gilbert
(active 1621-1640)

Biography

English painter. He was an itinerant portrait painter whose origins are unknown; he is documented as painting from about 1620 to about 1640 from recorded commissions and signed and dated paintings. He was made free of the Painter-Stainers Company in London in December 1640, but he had probably been active before that date in the provinces as well as in London. He was patronized by country families and by members of the learned professions. He does not appear to have worked for the court.

His style changed little within the period in which he is known to have been working. His earliest works, such as the portrait of Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester (1621; private collection), were influenced by George Geldorp or Paul van Somer, but he was only superficially influenced by van Dyck. His portraits are provincial, if not archaic, in style, rough and unpolished in quality. The sense of character is lively and sympathetic, and the attention to detail and colour (which is often very pretty) may reflect the influence of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. The compositions, however, though often decorative, are flat and linear.

Jackson's sitters seldom appear to stand convincingly in space, though the space itself, whether an interior or a landscape, is often interestingly delineated. His manner is close to that of Edward Bower and is most clearly illustrated in full-length portraits, such as William Hickman (1634; private collection), Portrait of a Boy (private collection) and Lord Bellasys (1636; National Portrait Gallery, London). His signature, written in a distinctive spiky script, is sometimes shortened to the form Gil. Jack.