Xanthus Russell Smith (February 26, 1839, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – December 2, 1929, Glenside, Pennsylvania) was an American marine painter best known for his illustrations of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Biography

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, the son of painters

William Thompson Russell Smith William Thompson Russell Smith (Glasgow, Scotland 1812 – Glenside, PA, 1896) was a Scottish-American painter who produced iconic images of Pennsylvania's landscape inspired by the aesthetic of the Hudson River School. Early life and education ...

and Mary Priscilla Wilson, he was educated at home by his mother, who also gave him drawing lessons. Between 1851 and 1852, he accompanied his parents and sister

Mary Russell Smith The Mary Smith Prize (defunct) was a prestigious art prize awarded to women artists by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It recognized the best work by a Philadelphia woman artist at PAFA's annual exhibition — one that showed "the mo ...

on the family's tour of Europe. After returning home, he studied chemistry at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, before enrolling at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Union Navy ), (official) , colors = Blue and gold , colors_label = Colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label ...

as a captain’s clerk during the

, helping to maintain the blockade of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. He saw little action, and sketched hundreds of ships in a variety of media, including

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail ...

and

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varn ...

, both for official purposes and for his own pleasure. His father built a suburban villa, "Edgehill", in

Glenside, Pennsylvania Glenside is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Cheltenham Township and Abington Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It borders Northwest Philadelphia. The population was 7,737 at the 2020 census on a land area of ...

, a couple miles outside of

, that included a large artist's studio. In 1879, Smith married Mary Binder, the daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia lumber dealer. The Smiths settled at Edgehill, where they raised their three children, Mary Russell "Polly" (1880–1938), Xanthus Russell Jr. (1886–1961), and George Russell (1890–1943). Smith also maintained a studio at 1020 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia for over thirty years, and painted until his death at age 90.

Selected works

Smith did not actually participate in most of the battles he illustrated; instead, he generally consulted those who were present at the engagements. His first major work, ''The Monitor and the Merrimack'' — 1869, oil on canvas, 30 x 66 inches (76.2 x 167.6 cm.),

Union League of Philadelphia The Union League of Philadelphia is a private club founded in 1862 by the Old Philadelphians as a patriotic society to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln. As of 2022, the club has over 4,000 members. Its main building was built in 1865 and ...

— was critically acclaimed. His paintings were sometimes massive: ''Final Assault upon Fort Fisher, North Carolina'' — 1872–73, oil on canvas, 56 x 123-1/2 inches (142.2 x 313.7 cm.),

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.USS ''Kearsarge'' and the Confederate ship ''Alabama'', each a unique composition: *''Sinking of the Rebel Cruiser Alabama by the U.S.S. Kearsage'', 1868, oil on canvas, 10 x 18 inches (25.4 x 45.7 cm.), Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repres ...

; Gift of

Regions Bank Regions Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in the Regions Center (Birmingham), Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The company provides retail banking and commercial banking, trust, stockbrokerage, and mortgage se ...

*''The Sinking of the Alabama'', c. 1865–70, oil on canvas, 8.2 x 14.7 inches (20.8 x 37.3 cm.), private collection. *''Battle between Kearsarge and Alabama'', c. 1870, oil on canvas, 9-5/8 x 14-7/8 inches (24.4 x 37.8 cm.),

Mariners' Museum The Mariners' Museum and Park is located in Newport News, Virginia, United States. Designated as America’s ''National Maritime Museum'' by Congress, it is one of the largest maritime museums in North America. The Mariners' Museum Library, conta ...

, Newport News, Virginia. *''The Kearsarge and Alabama'', 1875, oil on canvas, 56-1/2 x 96 inches (143.5 x 243.8 cm.),

. A popular attraction at the

1876 Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

. *''The Close of the Engagement'', 1886, oil on canvas, 21 x 36 inches (53.3 x 91.4 cm.), Debra Force Fine Art, Inc., New York City. *''Battle of the Kearsarge and Alabama'', 1892, watercolor on paper, 19-3/4 x 29-3/4 inches (50.2 x 75.6 cm.),

Morris Museum of Art The Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia was established in 1985 as a non-profit foundation by William S. Morris III, publisher of The Augusta Chronicle, in memory of his parents, as the first museum dedicated to the collection and exhibition ...

, Augusta, Georgia. *''The Sinking of the CSS Alabama'', 1922, oil on canvas, dimensions unknown,

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum holds the records of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States (1933–1945). Located on the grounds of Springwood, the Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, New ...

, Hyde Park, New York. Commissioned by former Assistant Secretary of the Navy

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. Smith's paintings and sketches were used to illustrate a large number of Civil War histories, including the 1926 biography he wrote of his former commanding officer, Admiral

Samuel Francis du Pont Samuel Francis Du Pont (September 27, 1803 – June 23, 1865) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family. In the Mexican–American War, Du Pont captured San Diego, and was made commander of the Ca ...

. Examples of his work are at the

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...

in Annapolis, Maryland, and the U.S. Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C. Others are in the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, the

Columbus Museum of Art The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collect ...

, the

Delaware Art Museum The Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 objects. The museum was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the artis ...

, the

Columbia Museum of Art The Columbia Museum of Art is an art museum in the American city of Columbia, South Carolina. History The Columbia Museum of Art was originally in the 1908 private residence of the city's Taylor family. Located on Senate Street in Columbia, ad ...

, and the

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

. His unpublished

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''An Unvarnished Tale'', along with his family papers are preserved in the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

.Xanthus Smith Papers
at Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. File:Goslin Zouave, 95th Regiment, Private (1861), by Xanthus Smith.jpg, ''Goslin Zouava, 95th Regiment, Private'' (1861), watercolor on paper,

United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Arm ...

, Washington, D.C. File:Uss Norwich 1861.jpg, ''USS Norwich'' (1861), graphite on paper, U.S. Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. File:USS Metacomet (1864) by Xanthus Russell Smith (cropped).jpg, ''USS Metacomet at Pensacola, Florida, 30 August 1864'' (1864), graphite on paper, U.S. Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. File:Final Assault upon Fort Fisher, North Carolina (1872-3) by Xanthus Smith.jpg, ''Final Assault upon Fort Fisher'' (1872–73),

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...

, Annapolis, Maryland. File:Battle of Kearsarge and Alabama (1892) by Xanthus Smith.jpg, ''Battle of the Kearsarge and Alabama'' (1892),

, Augusta, Georgia. File:US Navy 030204-N-0000X-001 This 1922 artwork depicts the sinking of the Confederate ship CSS Alabama.jpg, ''The Sinking of the CSS Alabama'' (1922),

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum holds the records of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States (1933–1945). Located on the grounds of Springwood, the Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, New ...

, Hyde Park, New York.

References

*James Louis Fisher, ''Xanthus Smith: Civil War Painter'', M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1982. *Barbara McNew, "The Fury and Terrible Beauty." ''

Naval History Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large lan ...

'' 14.3 (2001):26–33 *Robert Wilson Torchia, ''Xanthus Smith and the Civil War'', exhibition catalogue, Schwarz Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, April 1999. *Robert Wilson Torchia, ''The Smiths'', Schwarz Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, January 1999.

External links

''Cunard Steamer "Parthia" Leaving Boston Harbor'' (1871)
from

Cahoon Museum The Cahoon Museum of American Art is an art museum located in Cotuit, Massachusetts. It features fine art, folk art and American art from the 1800s through the present. Public programs include a series of annual changing exhibitions, tours, artis ...

, Contuit, MA.
''Farragut Passing the Forts below New Orleans'' (1872)
from

Philadelphia History Museum The Philadelphia History Museum was a public history museum located in Center City, Philadelphia from 1938 until 2018. The museum occupied architect John Haviland's landmark Greek Revival structure built in 1824–1826 for the Franklin Institute. ...

, Philadelphia, PA.
Landscape sketches
from Harvard University Art Museum.
Landscape sketches
from

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

.
''The Civil War Naval Scenes of Xanthus Smith''
from

Independence Seaport Museum The Independence Seaport Museum (formerly the Philadelphia Maritime Museum) was founded in 1961 and is located in the Penn's Landing complex along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The collections at the Independence Seaport Muse ...

, Philadelphia, PA. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Xanthus 1839 births 1929 deaths Artists from Philadelphia 19th-century war artists People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni American marine artists Union Navy sailors People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania American war artists Painters from Pennsylvania 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists