Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gibson, William (1664-1702)
GIBSON, WILLIAM (1664–1702), miniature-painter, was nephew of Richard Gibson, the dwarf [q. v.], from whom he received instruction. He was also a pupil of Sir Peter Lely, and was very successful in his copies of Lely's works. He attained great eminence as a miniature-painter, and was largely employed by the nobility. At the sale of Lely's collection of prints and drawings by the old masters, Gibson bought a great number, and added considerably to them by subsequent purchases. He resided in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and died of a ‘lethargy’ in 1702, aged 58. He was buried at Richmond in Surrey.
[Walpole's Anecd. of Painting, ed. Dallaway and Wornum; De Piles's Lives of the Painters; Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 19131 (Davy MSS.) fol. 257; Manning and Bray's Hist. of Surrey, i. 433.]