John Smibert (rarely spelled Smybert; /ˈsmaɪbət/;[1] 24 March 1688 – 2 April 1751)[2] was a Scottish-born painter, regarded as the first academically trained artist to live and work regularly in
British America.[3]
Career
Smibert was born in
Edinburgh on 24 March 1688, the second youngest of six children of Alison and John Smibert, a litster, or wool dyer.[4] From 1702–1709, he was apprenticed to a house painter and plasterer in Edinburgh. On moving to London in 1709[5] he worked as a
coach painter and copyist.
1713-1716, he studied under
Godfrey Kneller at the
Great Queen Street Academy, then returned to Edinburgh, seeking work as portraitist.[5]
Smibert travelled to Italy from 1719 to 1722 to copy old masters, including some in the collection of
Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany,[6] and then settled in London where he worked as a portrait painter from 1722 until 1728.[5]
Among his London portraits is one of
Bishop Berkeley[7] who, in 1728, enticed Smibert to accompany him to America, with the intention of becoming professor of fine arts in the college which Berkeley was planning to found in
Bermuda. The college, however, was never established, and Smibert settled in Boston, where he married in 1730. He lived at the corner of
Brattle Street and
Queen-Street.[8][9] He belonged to the
Scots Charitable Society of Boston.
The Bermuda Group (Dean Berkeley and His Entourage), begun in 1728, finished 1739.
Yale University Art GalleryAdvertisement for "John Smibert, painter, sells all sorts of colours, dry or ground, with oils and brushes. ... Wholesale or retail at reasonable rates, at his house in
Queen-Street, between the
Town-House and the orange tree, Boston," 1734Plaque at
Granary Burying Ground in Boston commemorating Smibert
In 1728, he began painting Dean George Berkeley and His Entourage, also called The Bermuda Group, which became one of the most influential
New England portraits.[10]
It was commissioned by John Wainright, a patron of George Berkeley, and depicts the members of the planned expedition to Bermuda. The painting, now in the
Yale University Art Gallery, includes Berkeley at the right, Wainwright seated at left, and Smibert standing at the far left.[11]
In 1734, Smibert opened a shop where he sold paint, other artist's supplies, and prints. In his studio above the shop, he displayed casts and copies of
Old Masters that he had painted in Europe. This collection, which Richard Saunders has termed "America's first art gallery", provided much of the early artistic education for
Charles Willson Peale,
Gilbert Stuart, and
John Trumbull.[12]
Between 1740 and 1742, he served as architect for the original
Faneuil Hall, which he designed in the style of an English country market. The hall burned down in 1761 but was restored, and then in 1806 greatly expanded and modified by
Charles Bulfinch.
His son
Nathaniel was also a painter. Smibert lies in Tomb 62 in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston.[citation needed]
Vertue, George (1934). "The Note-Books of George Vertue Relating to Artists and Collections in England (III)". The Walpole Society. 22. whole issue.
JSTORi40086509.
Deane, Charles; Perkins, Augustus T.; Wendell Holmes, Oliver (1878). "December Meeting, 1878". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 17: 380–475.
JSTOR25079537. See pp. 385–399 for A. T. Perkins' reports, "Portraits by Blackburn" and "Portraits by Smibert"{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (
link)
John Singleton Copley in America, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on John Smibert (see index)