Which Baroque sculptor and wood carver is famed for intricate naturalistic carvings used in interiors?

• A. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
• B. Peter Paul Rubens
• C. Carlo Maderno
• D. Grinling Gibbons

Answer: (D)

The main idea this question tests is recognizing a Baroque woodcarver renowned for extremely lifelike interior ornament. Grinling Gibbons stood out for carving in limewood with minute, naturalistic details—lush foliage, fruit, flowers, and cascades—that decorated interiors in English Baroque palaces and churches. His ability to render botanical forms so realistically made his work a defining feature of interior decoration at the turn of the 18th century, setting him apart from other Baroque figures who were primarily painters or architects. That emphasis on exquisitely detailed interior carvings is what makes him the best fit for this description.