The Reverend Pierre Jacques Smit (1863–1960), who often signed his works Peter Smit, Peter J. Smit, or P.J. Smit, was a natural history illustrator of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

in England.

Life and work

Smit was born in

Leiderdorp Leiderdorp () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland near the city of Leiden. It had a population of in . The municipality covers an area of of which is water. Leiderdorp has now become a suburb ...

, Holland, the son of the Dutch natural history illustrator

Joseph Smit Joseph Smit (18 July 1836 – 4 November 1929) was a Dutch zoological illustrator. L.B. Holthuis, Leiden, (1958, 1995) ''Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, 1820 - 1958''. page 47reprint manuscript, PDF Background Smit was born in Lisse. He ...

(1836–1929), also an "able and successful" artist. When he was two years old, the Smit family moved to England, and Joseph became an illustrator at the

British Museum Natural History The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

(now the Natural History Museum). Peter showed that he had a natural talent for drawing when he was a boy, and he followed his father in working in natural history illustration, including work for the British Museum. Smit was commissioned by the British Museum Natural History to do pencil and ink drawings of the museum's Central Hall for its 1890/91 Guide; he lived in

Primrose Hill Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) It was named after the natural hill in the centre of ...

, London at the time. A much larger work ensued, as he contributed illustrations of birds to the enormous ''Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum'' (CBBM). Smit moved to South Africa in 1903 and became a Wesleyan minister. When he retired in 1932 he resumed his painting activities until his death in 1960, aged 96.

Family

Smit married Gertrude Burge in

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

in the spring of 1894. They had one son, Bernard, who was born in 1897 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, London. He died in 1960 at age 97.

Works illustrated

* ''

Animal Coloration Animal coloration is the general appearance of an animal resulting from the reflection or emission of light from its surfaces. Some animals are brightly coloured, while others are hard to see. In some species, such as the peafowl, the male h ...

'' by

Frank Evers Beddard Frank Evers Beddard FRS FRSE (19 June 1858 – 14 July 1925) was an English zoologist. He became a leading authority on annelids, including earthworms. He won the Linnean Medal in 1916 for his book on oligochaetes. Life Beddard was born in ...

, Sonnenschein, 1892. 4 chromolithographic plates. * ''Annales du Musee du Congo'' - ''Poissons Nouveaux'' by G. A. Boulenger (Bruxelles, 1898) * ''A Naturalist in the Transvaal'' - W. L. Distant (1892) * ''Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum'' (CBBM). *
The Natural History of Sokotra and Abd-el-Kuri
being the report upon the results of the Conjoint Expedition to these Islands in 1898-9, by

William Robert Ogilvie-Grant William Robert Ogilvie-Grant (25 March 1863 – 26 July 1924) was a Scottish ornithologist. Early life and education Grant born on 25 March 1863 as second son of Capt. Hon. George Henry Essex Ogilvie-Grant, of Easter Elchies, Craigellachie, Sco ...

and

Henry Ogg Forbes Henry Ogg Forbes LLD (30 January 1851 – 27 October 1932) was a Scottish explorer, ornithologist, and botanist. He also described a new species of spider, '' Thomisus decipiens''. Biography Forbes was the son of Rev Alexander Forbes M.A. (182 ...

'' 1903. Liverpool: The Free Public Museums, Henry Young and Sons. * ''Royal Natural History'' by

Richard Lydekker Richard Lydekker (; 25 July 1849 – 16 April 1915) was an English naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history. Biography Richard Lydekker was born at Tavistock Square in London. His father was Gerard Wolfe Lydekker, ...

, 1893–1896. Plates by W. Kuhnert, F. Specht, P. J. Smit, G. Muetzel, A. T. Elwes, J. Wolf, G. Bolton and others. Smit painted watercolours for some of the bird plates.

References

External links

Transactions of the Zoological Society of London: An Index to the Artists, 1835-1936
(entries for "SMIT, Peter", p. 273 and for "SMIT, Pierre Jacques", p. 276) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Pierre Jacques 1863 births 1960 deaths Natural history illustrators People from Leiderdorp British people of Dutch descent 19th-century Dutch painters 20th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters 19th-century Dutch male artists 20th-century Dutch male artists