The Lost Carving

When the celebrated woodcarver David Esterly was called to replace a spectacular Grinling Gibbons 17th century carving destroyed in a 1986 fire at Hampton Court Palace, it began a process of discovery and reflection that would forever change him. Part memoir and part meditation on creativity and discovery, THE LOST CARVING: A Journey to the Heart of Making is a window into Esterly’s world of artisanship and aesthetics and is truly a story of the resilience of the human spirit.

With only a blurry glass plate photograph of the lost carving to guide him David Esterly was required to reproduce an exquisite flower and foliage piece by Grinling Gibbons whose skills were so daunting that one art historian declared the secret of his carving forever lost. Esterly had been grappling with the fear that his own career was being stunted by the overweening presence of this great predecessor, and so he seized upon the idea that taking on Gibbons’s identity for a year might somehow allow him to lay to rest the great carver’s troubling ghost. Soon he found that their lives converged in other surprising ways, shaped by the same kinds of fateful turning points.

Esterly’s memoir is a gripping detective story of experimentation and revelation, a vivid account of workshop camaraderie, competition and an eloquent meditation on the glories of physical work and its place in today’s digital world. THE LOST CARVING carries the reader ever deeper into the marvel of creation to the bedrock of what it means to make a thing well.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR A professional limewood carver since the 1970s, David Esterly’s carvings have been described as “some of the most astonishing work being done in wood today” (Fine Woodworking). He is the author of Grinling Gibbons and the Art of Carving and curated the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition of Gibbons in 1998. He has been profiled in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Financial Times. He has written for many magazines, including The Times Literary Supplement and House & Garden. Educated at Harvard and Cambridge, where he was a Fulbright Scholar, David Esterly now lives and works in Barneveld, N.Y.

“As intricate as his carvings, Esterly has shaped a story that captures the effort and uncertainty that lies behind the creation of art and beauty.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“[David Esterly] has crafted a gripping account of the political maneuverings involved in a major restoration project and an intimate meditation on the nature and meaning of carving… Its heart lies in Esterly’s moving ruminations about the spiritual value inherent in fine craftsmanship and technique”—Kirkus

“Esterly’s masterfully witty and nuanced prose makes it clear his writing prowess is at least on par with his woodworking skills.”—Booklist