John Raphael Smith (1751 – 2 March 1812) was a British painter and

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonal ...

er. He was the son of Thomas Smith of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, the

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

, and father of John Rubens Smith, a painter who emigrated to the United States.

Biography

Baptized at St Alkmund's Church on 25 May 1751, John Raphael, was born to be a painter. Named after the great Renaissance artist, he was born to mother Hannah Silvester and a father who was also a well thought of citizen of Derby. Thus he was able to secure an apprentice to a linen-draper in the city, after a brief education at

Derby School Derby School was a school in Derby in the English Midlands from 1160 to 1989. It had an almost continuous history of education of over eight centuries. For most of that time it was a grammar school for boys. The school became co-educational an ...

. His elder brother, Thomas Corregio Smith (1743–1811), was also a painter. Determined to pursue a print-making business in London, in 1767 he moved to the capital, making additional income from production of miniatures. Almost immediately he met Ann Darlow, he proposed and they were married on 20 May 1768 at the Chapel of Savoy. Then he turned to engraving: his most successful mezzotint of ''Pascal Poali'', after

Henry Benbridge Henry Benbridge (October 1743 – February 1812) was an early United States, American portrait painter. Early life and education He was born in Philadelphia, the only child of James and Mary (Clark) Benbridge. When he was seven years old, hi ...

launched his career. He executed his plate of the ''Public Ledger,'' which proved most popular, and was followed by his mezzotints of ''Edwin the Minstrel'' (a portrait of Thomas Haden) after Wright of Derby, and ''Mercury Inventing the Lyre,'' after

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

He reproduced some forty works of

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depen ...

, some of which ranked among the masterpieces of

. Notable among these feats was one of ''Mr Banks'', after a portrait by the Royal Academician

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

that was exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1773. In 1778 Smith was commissioned to complete a mezzotint engraving by John Milnes following his purchase of a painting and all known engravings of the work of Joseph Wright of Derby. The painting was called '' The Captive'' and the engraving was used to make just twenty impressions before it was destroyed. One of these rare engravings is in Smith's home town at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Reynolds painted all Society, but Smith's mezzotints of ''Mrs Carnac'' (1778) and ''Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton'' (1782) are outstanding examples of famous Georgians. Tarleton's reputation as a ruthless cavalry officer in the American campaign was illustrative of Smith's enduring family links to the New World. Adding to his artistic pursuits an extensive connexion as a print-dealer and publisher, he would soon have acquired wealth had it not been for his dissipated habits. Smith knew the theatre, having a keen eye for the dramatic flourish, with a sense of stagecraft, a ''Promenade at Carlisle House'', followed by a mezzotint exhibited in 1782 at the Free Society of Artists. Mezzotints of George Romney's portrait of ''The Children of Earl Gower'' and Thomas Gainsborough's ''George, Prince of Wales'' catapulted him into the Royal Household, appointed in 1784 as Mezzotint Engraver to the Prince of Wales. Other successful pieces followed with ''The Weird Sisters'' after

Henry Fuseli Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his works, such as '' The Nightmare'', deal with supernatu ...

(1785), and a Widow of an Indian Chief (1789), after Joseph Wright of Derby. He was a boon companion of

George Morland George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...

, whose excellent figure-pieces included mezzotints repository at the British Museum, and frequent exhibitions throughout his career at the Society of Artists. In the intervening periods he showed oils, chalk and pastels at the Royal Academy in Piccadilly, for example his mezzotint of 1785 of the ''Credulous Lady and Astrologer''. In 1803 he had a special exhibition of oils at the British School in

Berners Street Berners Street is a thoroughfare located to the north of Oxford Street in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, originally developed as a residential street in the mid-18th century by property developer William Berners, and later ...

, Piccadilly. Of his complete oeuvres, over 400 works of mezzotint and stipple, included 120 genre and satirical works about ordinary life. ''Ladies in Fashionable Dresses'' by Bowles portrayed, according to one critic, a group of prostitutes. Smith became a London publisher from 1781, including among his clients the radical writer and artist

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

. A prolific mentor of apprentices, he shared plates with at least thirty other London printers. In this group was J. M. W. Turner, Charles H. Hodges, William Ward,

Thomas Girtin Thomas Girtin (18 February 17759 November 1802) was an English watercolourist and etcher. A friend and rival of J. M. W. Turner, Girtin played a key role in establishing watercolour as a reputable art form. Life Thomas Girtin was born in Sou ...

and James Ward, who were among his registered pupils were William Hilton,

Charles Howard Hodges Charles Howard Hodges (1764 in Portsmouth – 24 July 1837 in Amsterdam), was a British painter active in the Netherlands during the French occupation of the 18th and early 19th century. Biography Hodges was a pupil of John Raphael Smith and ...

, Christiaan Josi,

Samuel William Reynolds Samuel William Reynolds (4 July 1773 – 13 August 1835) was a mezzotint engraver, landscape painter and landscape gardener. Reynolds was a popular engraver in both Britain and France and there are over 400 examples of his work in the Nation ...

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

and William Ward (engraver), and

Peter de Wint Peter De Wint (21 January 1784 – 30 January 1849) was an English landscape painter. A number of his pictures are in the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and The Collection, Lincoln. He died in London. Biography De Wint wa ...

.John Raphael Smith
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

As a mezzotint engraver Smith occupies the very highest rank. His prints are delicate, excellent in drawing and finely expressive of colour. Among his small full-length portraits in pastels and crayons the best is of

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, the Whig leader which in 1802 was exhibited in the Royal Academy. Other portraits were of important radicals and whigs Horne Tooke,

Sir Francis Burdett Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (25 January 1770 – 23 January 1844) was a British politician and Member of Parliament who gained notoriety as a proponent (in advance of the Chartists) of universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vo ...

and the group of the duke of Devonshire and family support his claims as a successful draughtsman and painter. He had a very thorough knowledge of the principles and history of art, and was a brilliant conversationalist. After a divorce from Ann, on the grounds of adultery, he lived with Emma Johnston, mother of his child, artist

Emma Smith Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 – April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the official wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as ...

(1783–1853); he made an exceptional study of her in 1783. The grandchildren were also distinguished: Julian, Lord Pauncefote was Britain's first fully-fledged Ambassador to United States. His sister Eliza Aders (1785–1857) was a hostess and artist. Smith's third relationship was with Hannah Croome (1757–1829), by whom he had another two children, who survived him. In 1793 he opened the Morland Gallery in King Street, Covent Garden, whence he issued catalogues of his prints. By 1798 he had listed over 302 publications in addition to his prints. He painted subject-pictures such as the ''Unsuspecting Maid,'' ''Inattention'' and the ''Moralist,'' exhibiting in the Royal Academy from 1779 to 1790. Upon the decline of his business as a printseller he made a tour through the north and midland counties of England, producing much hasty and indifferent work, and settled in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

. The artistic merit of the sculptor Sir

Francis Legatt Chantrey Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

was spotted by Smith, who gave him lessons in painting. Chantry later did a bust of Smith in appreciation, that is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and there is a painting of Chantry by Smith. From 1808 Smith grew increasingly deaf. Based in Doncaster he travelled extensively through the North of England. He died at his home there, and was buried in the parish churchyard.

Some selected portraits and mezzotint

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

(1760) * John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute (1760) * Hon Mrs Stanhope * Thomas King, English actor (1772) * Mr Banks (1773) * Chryses invoking the Vengeance of Apollo (1774) * Augustus Montague Toplady (1777) * Carlini, Bartolozzi and Cipriani (1778) * Mrs Elizabeth Carnac (1778) * Miss Brown (1778) * Joseph Tayadaneega, the Brant, the Great Captain of the Six Nations (1779) * Self-Portrait (1782) * Lieutenant-colonel Banastre Tarleton (1782) * The Weird Sisters (1785) * Rev Charles Alcock (1785) * The Widow's Tale * Self-Portrait (1785-7) * Shepherdess (1787) * William Bentinck, Duke of Portland and Lord Edward Bentinck (1788) * The Moralist (facsimile after JRS, 1900) * The Widow of an Indian Chief (1789) * Edward Heardson, cook for the Ad Libitum Society (1789) * 'What You Will' (c1790) * George Morland (1792) * His Royal Highness, George, Prince of Wales (1792) * Sir William Musgrave, 6th baronet * Miss Chambers * Gypsy encampment *

Edward Jenner Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...

(1800) * Lady in a Straw Hat * Hon Douglas Kinnaird * Sir Francis Burdett, Bt * Sir Benjamin, Count Rumford (c1800) * Thomas Morton (1803) * Thomas Hartley, Lord Mayor of York (1803) * Colonel and Mrs Thornton (1806) * Lieut William Collingwood, Northumberland Militia (1809) * John Bigland, Doncaster schoolmaster (1810) * John Horne Tooke (1811) * Major General Benjamin Lincoln, President of the Cincinnati (1811) * Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (1818)

Notes

References

* * * * Julia Frankau, John Raphael Smith (1902) * * * Attribution: *

External links

JRS at the Tate

JRS1

JRS2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John Raphael 1751 births 1812 deaths 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters English portrait painters English engravers People from Derby Color engravers 19th-century English male artists People educated at Derby School 18th-century English male artists