"An Artist Sketching in a River Landscape" and "Landscape with Figures by a Fallen Tree"

CIRCA 1760–70

George Smith of Chichester (British, 1714-1776)

Inventory Number 7065-63/64

Price

Description

Oil on canvas Each: Canvas: 29.5" x 39.5" Framed: 35" x 45"

Additional Information

GEORGE SMITH of Chichester was a prolific artist from rural England who won awards at the Society of Arts in 1760, 1761, and 1763. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1774, just two years before his death in September of 1776.

Smith’s works were so popular that they were frequently made into lithographs by the best engravers of the day, including Woolett, Vivares, and Company. Although commencing his career as a still-life artist, Smith quickly realized great success with his landscapes and was focusing on rural scenes of daily English life by the 1750s. His true fame came when classical landscapes, such as the pair above, won several awards in various artistic societies. This pair illustrates the artist’s strength in combining the classical elements of a Claude Lorraine and the desire for “English” settings.