# Anker Smith

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{{Short description|English engraver}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = Anker Smith
| birth_date         = 1759
| birth_place        = [Cheapside](/source/Cheapside), [London](/source/London), [England](/source/England)
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1819|06|23|1759|}}
| occupation         = [Engraver](/source/Engraver)
}}

'''Anker Smith''' (1759–1819) was an English [engraver](/source/engraver).

==Life==
Smith was born in [Cheapside](/source/Cheapside), London, where his father was a silk merchant. He was educated at [Merchant Taylors' School](/source/Merchant_Taylors'_School%2C_Northwood), and at first articled to an uncle named Hoole, a solicitor; but he transferred to James Taylor, an engraver and younger brother to [Isaac Taylor](/source/Isaac_Taylor_(engraver)),<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Taylor, Isaac (1730-1807)|volume=55}}</ref> with whom he remained until 1782. Subsequently, he became an assistant to [James Heath](/source/James_Heath_(engraver)), and then one of the leading English [line engravers](/source/line_engravers).<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Smith, Anker|volume=53}}</ref>

Smith died of [apoplexy](/source/apoplexy) on 23 June 1819.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Works==
thumb|''Sir William Walworth, Lord Mayor of London, Killing Wat Tyler in Smithfield, 1381'', engraving by Anker Smith published 1796
In 1787 Smith found his first independent employment with [John Bell](/source/John_Bell_(publisher)), for whose series of ''British Poets'' he engraved many of the illustrations. Through his relative [John Hoole](/source/John_Hoole) he became known to [John Boydell](/source/John_Boydell), who commissioned him to engrave [James Northcote](/source/James_Northcote_(painter))'s picture ''Death of Wat Tyler''; the print was published in 1796, and earned for him election as an associate of the [Royal Academy](/source/Royal_Academy) in the following year.<ref name="DNB"/>

In 1798 Smith executed a large plate from [Leonardo da Vinci](/source/Leonardo_da_Vinci)'s cartoon of the [Holy Family](/source/Holy_Family) in the possession of the Academy. For the rest of his life Smith worked on illustrations to fine editions of standard works, such as:<ref name="DNB"/>

* [Thomas Macklin](/source/Thomas_Macklin)'s Bible, 1800; 
* Boydell's "Shakespeare" (the smaller series), 1802;
* [George Kearsley](/source/George_Kearsley)'s "Shakespeare", 1806; 
* [Robert Bowyer](/source/Robert_Bowyer)'s edition of [David Hume](/source/David_Hume)'s ''History of England'', 1806; and 
* John Sharpe's ''British Classics''.

He engraved many of [Robert Smirke](/source/Robert_Smirke_(painter))'s designs for the ''Arabian Nights'', 1802; ''Gil Blas'', 1809; and ''Don Quixote'', 1818; and was one of the artists employed on the official publication ''Ancient Marbles in the British Museum''. His last work was a large plate from [Thomas Heaphy](/source/Thomas_Heaphy)'s picture, ''The Duke of Wellington giving Orders to his Generals'', which he did not live to complete.<ref name="DNB"/>

==Family==
Smith married in 1791, and left a widow, one daughter, and four sons, including the sculptor [Frederick William Smith](/source/Frederick_William_Smith) and the painters [Herbert Luther Smith](/source/Herbert_Luther_Smith) and [Edwin Dalton Smith](/source/Edwin_Dalton_Smith). His sister Maria, who was an artist, and exhibited portraits between 1791 and 1814, married William Ross, a miniature-painter, and was the mother of [William Charles Ross](/source/William_Charles_Ross).<ref name="DNB"/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}
{{Commons category|Anker Smith}}
;Attribution
{{DNB|wstitle=Smith, Anker|volume=53}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Anker}}
Category:1759 births
Category:1819 deaths
Category:Associates of the Royal Academy
Category:19th-century English engravers
Category:Artists from the City of London
Category:People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood

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