| John Smart | |
|---|---|
John Smart circa 1795-1800 |
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| Born | circa 1740 Norfolk, England |
| Died | 1811 |
| Nationality | English |
| Field | Painter of Portrait Miniatures |
John Smart (painter) (c. 1740 - 1811), was an English painters of portrait miniatures. He was a contemporary of Richard Cosway, George Engleheart, William Wood and Richard Crosse.
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He was born in Norfolk, but not much is known of his early life. It is recorded that in 1755 he was runner up to Richard Cosway in a drawing competition for under fourteens held by the 'Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce of Arts'. In the same year he began attending the new drawing school of William Shipley in London, along with Cosway and Richard Crosse.
Smart exhibited at the Society of Artists, in London, from 1762 onwards; and became its president in 1778. He went to India in 1788 and obtained a number of commissions in that country. He settled down in London in 1797 and there died. He married Edith Vere, and is believed to have had only one son, who died in Madras in 1809.
He was a man of simple habits, and a member of the Society of Sandemanians. Many of his pencil drawings still exist in the possession of the descendants of a great friend of his only sister. Several of his miniatures are in Australia and belong to a cadet branch of the family.
His work is entirely different from that of Cosway, quiet and grey in its colouring, with the flesh tints elaborated with much subtlety and modelled in exquisite fashion. He possessed a great knowledge of anatomy, and his portraits are drawn with greater anatomical accuracy and possess more distinction than those of any miniature painter of his time.
He mainly painted watercolour on ivory, and often clearly signed and dated his work. Quite a number of his preparatory drawings and sketches also survive.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
| Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Smart, John. |