GILBERT, SIR JOHN (1817-1897), English painter and illustrator, was born at Blackheath, London, on July 21, 1817. He had had little formal instruction when he began to exhibit at the Gallery of British Art watercolours on historical and ro mantic subjects. Gilbert began to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1838, was elected A.R.A. in 1872 and R.A. on June 29, 1876. Many of his most ambitious works are at the Academy. But it is not in these large works in oils that Gilbert was seen at his best. At the gallery of the Old Water Colour society, to which from 1852, when he was elected an associate exhibitor, till he died (Oct. 5, 1897), he contributed 27o drawings, most of them admirable because of the largeness of their style, massive colouration, broad chiaroscuro and vigorous design. "The Trumpeter," "The Standard-Bearer," "Richard II. resigning his Crown" (now at Liverpool), "The Drug Bazaar at Constantinople," "The Mer chant of Venice" and "The Turkish Water-Carrier" are ex amples. Gilbert was elected a full member in 1855, and president of the society in 1871, shortly after which he was knighted. GILBERT, SIR JOHN THOMAS Irish Celtic scholar and historian, was born in Dublin on Jan. 23, 1829. As a young man he studied the records of his native city, and his first important work was a History of the City of Dublin (3 vols., He was secretary of the Public Record office (1867 75). Gilbert was, from 1855 onwards, secretary of the Irish Celtic and Archaeological society, and published many original docu ments relative to Irish history, notably those of the convents of St. Mary and St. Thomas in Dublin. He died in Dublin on May 23, 1898.
See Life of Sir John T. Gilbert (2 vols., 1905) by his wife, Lady Gilbert.