biography of John SMIBERT (1688-1751)

Birth place: Edinburgh (Scotland)

Death place: Boston, MA

Addresses: Newport, RI; Boston, from May, 1729

Profession: Portrait painter

Studied: apprenticed to a house painter in Edinburgh, 1702-09; Godfrey Kneller's Great Queen Street Academy, London, c. 1714

Exhibited: Brooklyn AA, 1872 ("Dean Berkeley and His Family" Yale Univ.)

Work: Smibert 's Notebook, an account book recording details of his career from 1709 to 1747 (including his activities during his trip to Italy and a list of his portrait commisssions), is located at the Public Record Office in Boston; his paintings are in collections at Yale Univ. Art Gallery; National Gallery of Ireland; MMA; Rhode Island Hist. Soc.; Winterthur Mus. (Winterthur, DE); Fogg Mus. at Harvard (Smibert's copy of Van Dyck's Cardinal Guido Bentivoglo, donated by Trumbull in 1791)

Comments: Went to London, c.1709, where for the next four years he worked as a coach painter and copyist before entering Kneller's drawing academy. He returned to Edinburgh in 1717 and painted portraits until sometime in 1719, when he departed for Italy. Smibert spent three important years in Italy, studying the great paintings and making copies after old masters. From 1723-28 he worked in London. In the latter year he was asked to join his friend Dean George Berkeley, and several others, on a journey to Bermuda, where Berkeley hoped to establish a college. Before they departed, John Wainwright, an admirer of Berkeley, commissioned Smibert to paint a large commemorative portrait of the group. Setting sail in 1728, they arrived in Virginia and then went on to Newport (RI), where they had to wait for additional funds from the English Parliament (funding was ultimately rejected). In the meantime, Smibert left Berkeley's party and went to Boston, where he spent the rest of his life. A notebook entry from November of 1730 confirms that Smibert was still finishing the portrait of the Berkeley entourage. When finished, the Bermuda Group" (Yale Univ. Art Gallery; a smaller, earlier, version is at National Gallery of Ireland), became the largest painting in the colonies (69.5 in. x 93 in.). It also helped firmly establish Smibert's reputation and served as a source of inspiration for artists who followed. For various reasons, Wainwright never claimed the painting and it remained in Smibert's studio until well after the artist's death. Thus it was seen by everyone who visited the studio, which also showcased his copies after old masters, his large print collection, antique casts, and additionally served as a painting supply shop. This collection was an important learning tool for young American artists who had not gone to Europe. As for his own work, Smibert was received with great enthusiasm in Boston and the colonies. His academic training and his knowledge of the newest fashions in portraiture placed him in great demand. Between 1729-46, when he retired because of vision problems, he created about 250 paintings. Smibert's son Nathaniel Smibert was also an artist (see entry).

Sources: G&W; Henry Wilder Foote, John Smibert, Painter (1950). More recently, see Saunders and Miles, 113-125; Craven, Colonial American Portraiture 160-177. "

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