Portrait painter and teacher, born and lived in London, who studied at St Martin’s School of Art, 1928–32, then until 1935 at Royal College of Art, teachers including Gilbert Spencer and Vivian Pitchforth, Sir William Rothenstein and Percy Horton, who noted particularly his “facility for obtaining a likeness combined with a lively and sympathetic handling.” A number of critics hailed the young man’s talent when, aged only 17, his portrait of his father was hung at the RA. At that time he showed as Michael Goldberg, his born name. Gilbery also gained recognition for his Jewish scenes, some exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1932. After leaving college he was commissioned to paint the Royal Historic Cavalcade when King George VI was crowned in 1936.