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John Warwick Smith

English, 1749-1831
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John "Warwick" Smith was a British watercolour landscape painter and illustrator.

Smith was born at Irthington, near Carlisle, Cumberland, the son of a gardener to the Gilpin family, and educated at St. Bees. The fortunate social connection allowed him to study art under the animal painter Sawrey Gilpin.

Becoming known as a skilful topographical draughtsman, he was employed on Samuel Middiman's Select Views in Great Britain, and obtained the patronage of George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick, which enabled him to travel to Italy between 1776 and 1781. While there he met other British artists such as Francis Towne, Thomas Hearne and William Pars. He came to be known as "Warwick" or "Italian" Smith. In his subsequent works, which were largely views in Italy, he gradually abandoned the simple tinting to which watercolour work had previously been limited for a more effective mode of colouring, the novelty and beauty of which was much admired.

He returned to England in 1781 in the company of Francis Towne, travelling through the Italian lakes and Switzerland. He settled in Warwick, making frequent visits to Wales from 1784; he also toured the Lake District in the late 1780s and early 1790s. In 1783 he married Elizabeth Gerrard – still a minor – at St Mary's church, Warwick. He visited Italy again in 1785–6, this time in the company of Lord Warwick. Lord Warwick acquired a large collection of his work, which was eventually dispersed at an auction in 1936.

On one of his tours of Wales, at some time after 1788, Smith was accompanied by Lord Warwick's brother, Robert Fulke Greville, and the artist Julius Caesar Ibbetson . They spent a considerable time at Hafod, near Aberystwyth, the home of the bibliophile Thomas Johnes. Hafod was destroyed by fire in 1807, and three years later Sir J. E. Smith published A Tour to Hafod, illustrated with fifteen aquatints by J. G. Stadler from watercolours, by " Warwick " Smith, possibly made in the course of the visit with Ibbetson.

Other books illustrated with engravings after works by Smith include Select Views in Italy (1792–6); Views of the Lakes of Cumberland, with twenty aquatints by James Merigot (1791–5); William Byrne's Britannia Depicta and William Sotheby's Tour through Wales (1794). This last book was subtitled "Odes and other Poems. With Engravings from Drawings taken on the Spot by J. Smith". In the preface, Sotheby wrote "the author of the following Poems thinks proper to signify, that the present edition is published solely for the emolument of the artist, who has stamped a value on the descriptive parts of the Welsh Tour, by the embellishments of his accurate and masterly pencil". The plates were etched in aquatint by Samuel Alken.

Smith moved to London in 1807. In that year he began exhibiting with Watercolour Society, which he had joined two years before. He remained a major contributor to its exhibitions until 1823, when he resigned his membership. He was elected president of the society in 1814, 1817, and 1818, secretary in 1816, and treasurer in 1819, 1821, and 1822.

Smith died in Middlesex Place, London, on 22 March 1831, and was interred in the St George's burial-ground in the Uxbridge Road.

55 items

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Entrance To The Grotto Of Posillipo, Naples

Entrance To The Grotto Of Posillipo, Naples

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
A convent at Amalfi near Salerno, Italy

A convent at Amalfi near Salerno, Italy (1808)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Head of Windermere from Belle Grange Farm

Head of Windermere from Belle Grange Farm (1789)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Lake Windermere from Rawlinson’s Nab, looking down the lake

Lake Windermere from Rawlinson’s Nab, looking down the lake

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
The Bay of Naples, from the beach at Posillipo

The Bay of Naples, from the beach at Posillipo

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
The lower end of Lake Windermere

The lower end of Lake Windermere (1791)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Ullswater from Gobarrow Park

Ullswater from Gobarrow Park (1789)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
A Fisherman in the Vale of Myfod, Site of the Palace of the Princess of Powis

A Fisherman in the Vale of Myfod, Site of the Palace of the Princess of Powis

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
A View of Tivoli Looking Towards Rome

A View of Tivoli Looking Towards Rome

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Village of Stonethwaite and Eagle Cragg, Borrowdale

Village of Stonethwaite and Eagle Cragg, Borrowdale

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
An Interior View of the Colosseum, Rome

An Interior View of the Colosseum, Rome

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Approach to Belle Grange Park

Approach to Belle Grange Park (1789)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Bay Scene in Moonlight

Bay Scene in Moonlight (1787)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Carnedd Llewelyn and Carnedd David, Carnarvonshire, Seen Across the River Ogwen

Carnedd Llewelyn and Carnedd David, Carnarvonshire, Seen Across the River Ogwen

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Castle of Schrecstein on the Elbe

Castle of Schrecstein on the Elbe (ca. 1817)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Castle Point

Castle Point

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Coast Near Sorrento

Coast Near Sorrento (1764-1831)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Convent at Vietri, near Salerno

Convent at Vietri, near Salerno (1808)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Craig y Ladron – The Thieves Precipice

Craig y Ladron – The Thieves Precipice (1797)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Falls of Tivoli

Falls of Tivoli

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Hafod; Upper Part of Cascade

Hafod; Upper Part of Cascade (1793)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
In the Bay of Salerno, near Vietri

In the Bay of Salerno, near Vietri

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Landscape
Cascade of Buffalora

Cascade of Buffalora

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Drawings
Alpine Scene

Alpine Scene (1781)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Drawings
Tintern Abbey by Moonlight

Tintern Abbey by Moonlight (ca. 1789)

John Warwick Smith (English, 1749-1831)
Drawings
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