Grinling Gibbons was a master woodcarver whose career spanned the 17th and 18th centuries. His work is instantly recognisable, and he is still revered as England’s finest wood carver.
He was appointed as a master carver both by Charles II and George I, and became known as the King’s Carver. He worked at Hampton Court and Windsor, although the best surviving examples of his carving appear at Petworth House in Sussex, which is now owned by the National Trust. He was celebrated in his day for his exquisite rendering of garlands of flowers and leaves, which were considered so lifelike that it was claimed they trembled in the breeze. 
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