Online Encyclopedia

JOHN RAPHAEL SMITH (1752–1812)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 267 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN RAPHAEL SMITH (1752–1812)  ,
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English painter and
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mezzotint engraver, a son of Thomas Smith of Derby, the landscape painter, was born in 1752 . He was apprenticed to a
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linen-draper in Derby, and afterwards pursued the same business in
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London, adding, however, to his income by the production of miniatures . He then turned to
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engraving and executed his
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plate of the " Public Ledger," which had
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great popularity, and was followed by his mezzotints of " Edwin the
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Minstrel " (a portrait of Thomas Haden), after Wright of Derby, and " Mercury Inventing the Lyre," after Barry . He reproduced some
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forty of the
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works of Reynolds, some of these plates ranking among the masterpieces of the
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art of mezzotint, and he was appointed engraver to the prince of Wales . Adding to his
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artistic pursuits an extensive connexion as a
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print-dealer and publisher, he would soon have acquired
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wealth had it not been for his dissipated habits . He was a boon companion of George Morland, whose figure-pieces he excellently mezzotinted . 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 N. and midland counties of England, producing much hasty and indifferent
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work, and settled in
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Doncaster, where he died on the 2nd of March _1812 . As a mezzotint engraver Smith occupies the very highest rank . His prints are delicate, excellent in
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drawing and finely expressive of colour . His small full-lengths in crayons and his portraits of Fox, Horne Tooke,
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Sir Francis Burdett and the
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group of the duke of Devonshire and
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family support his claims as a successful draughts-man and painter . He had a very thorough knowledge of the principles and
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history of art, and was a brilliant conversationalist .

End of Article: JOHN RAPHAEL SMITH (1752–1812)
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