# John Smibert
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{{short description|Scottish-born painter (1688–1751)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = John Smibert
| image = 1739 JohnSmibert self portrait BermudaGroup detail Yale.png
| caption = {{circa|1739}} [self-portrait](/source/self-portrait)
| birth_date = 24 March 1688
| birth_place = [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh), Scotland
| death_date = 2 April 1751 (aged 63)
| death_place = [Boston, Massachusetts](/source/Boston%2C_Massachusetts), [British America](/source/British_America)
| nationality =
| education =
| field = [Portrait painting](/source/Portrait_painting)
| works =
}}
'''John Smibert''' (24 March 1688 – 2 April 1751) was a Scottish-born painter who specialised in [portrait painting](/source/portrait_painting) and was the first academically trained artist to work in [British America](/source/British_America).{{sfn|Saunders|1996|p=869}}{{sfn|O'Donnell|2017|p=18}}[{{Cite book|last=Mangold|first=Max|url=https://archive.org/details/dudenaussprachew0000unse_c8b4_6|title=Duden Aussprachewörterbuch: Wörterbuch der deutschen Standardaussprache|publisher=Dudenverlag|year=1990|isbn=3-411-00916-0|edition=2nd|location=Mannheim, Wien, Zürich|page=[https://archive.org/details/dudenaussprachew0000unse_c8b4_6/page/n9/mode/1up 667]|language=de|oclc=1244724110|display-editors=etal|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive}}]
==Career==
Smibert was born in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh) on 24 March 1688, the second youngest of six children of Alison and John Smibert, a litster, or wool dyer.{{sfn|Saunders|2004|p=1001}} From 1702 to 1709, he was apprenticed to a house painter and plasterer in Edinburgh. On moving to London in 1709[Richard H. Saunders, John Smibert: Colonial America's first portrait painter, [Yale University Press](/source/Yale_University_Press), 1995.] he worked as a [coach](/source/Coach_(carriage)) painter and copyist.
1713-1716, he studied under [Godfrey Kneller](/source/Godfrey_Kneller) at the [Great Queen Street Academy](/source/Great_Queen_Street_Academy), then returned to Edinburgh, seeking work as portraitist.[[Skinner, Basil](/source/Basil_Skinner) (1966), ''Scots in Italy in the 18th Century'', [National Galleries of Scotland](/source/National_Galleries_of_Scotland), Edinburgh, p. 30] and then settled in London where he worked as a portrait painter from 1722 until 1728.[{{harvnb|Cust|1897|p=405}}] 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](/source/Bermuda). The college, however, was never established, and Smibert settled in Boston, where he married in 1730.[{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Smybert, John|volume=25|page=281}}] He lived at the corner of [Brattle Street](/source/Brattle_Street_(Boston%2C_Massachusetts)) and [Queen-Street](/source/Queen_Street_(Boston%2C_Massachusetts)).[[Weekly Rehearsal](/source/Weekly_Rehearsal), Oct. 21, 1734; May 26, 1735][David Kruh. Always something doing: Boston's infamous Scollay Square, rev. ed. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press, 1999; p.34.] He belonged to the [Scots Charitable Society of Boston](/source/Scots_Charitable_Society_of_Boston).
[[File:The Bermuda Group Dean Berkeley and his Entourage by John Smibert.jpeg|thumb|250px|''The Bermuda Group (Dean Berkeley and His Entourage)'', begun in 1728, finished 1739. [Yale University Art Gallery](/source/Yale_University_Art_Gallery)]]
[[Image:1734 Smibert WeeklyRehearsal Boston Oct21.png|thumb|250px|Advertisement 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](/source/Queen_Street_(Boston%2C_Massachusetts)), between the [Town-House](/source/Old_State_House_(Boston%2C_Massachusetts)) and the orange tree, Boston," 1734]]
[[Image:John Smibert grave memorial.jpg|thumb|250px|Plaque at [Granary Burying Ground](/source/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](/source/New_England) portraits.[{{Cite book |last=Kloss |first=William |title=Masterworks of American Art: Course Guidebook |publisher=[The Teaching Company](/source/The_Teaching_Company) |year=2008 |location=United States |pages=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](/source/Yale_University_Art_Gallery), includes Berkeley at the right, Wainwright seated at left, and Smibert standing at the far left.[[https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/21 Yale University Art Gallery]. Retrieved 12 March 2023.]
Smibert painted portraits of [Jonathan Edwards](/source/Jonathan_Edwards_(theology)) and Judge [Edmund Quincy](/source/Edmund_Quincy_(1681-1737)) (in the [Museum of Fine Arts](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Boston) in Boston), Mrs Smibert, [Peter Faneuil](/source/Peter_Faneuil) and [Governor John Endecott](/source/John_Endecott) (in the Massachusetts Historical Society), John Lovell (Memorial Hall, [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University)), and probably one of [Sir William Pepperrell](/source/William_Pepperrell); and examples of his works are owned by Harvard and Yale Universities, by [Bowdoin College](/source/Bowdoin_College), by the Massachusetts Historical Society, and by the New England Historical and Genealogical Society.[''John Smibert'', [Oxford Art Online](/source/Oxford_Art_Online)]
Between 1740 and 1742, he served as architect for the original [Faneuil Hall](/source/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](/source/Charles_Bulfinch).
His son [Nathaniel](/source/Nathaniel_Smibert) was also a painter. Smibert lies in Tomb 62 in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}
==Gallery==
Image:EdwardNightengale ca1723 byJohnSmibert DallasMuseumArt.jpg|Portrait of Edward Nightengale, ca.1722-1724
File:John Smibert - Benjamin Moreland, High Master of St. Paul's School - Google Art Project.jpg|''Benjamin Morland'', oil on canvas, 1724. [Yale Center for British Art](/source/Yale_Center_for_British_Art)
thumb|250px|George Berkeley, 1727
File:1729 ElizabethDavenport byJohnSmibert MFABoston.jpeg|''Elizabeth Davenport (Mrs. William Dudley)'', 1729, [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Boston).
File:Colonel Charles Otway.jpg|''Colonel [James Otaway](/source/Charles_James_Otway)'', oil on canvas, 1724. [Royal Sussex Regiment](/source/Royal_Sussex_Regiment) Museum
Image:WLA lacma Smibert Scotland portrait of Paul Mascarene.jpg|[Paul Mascarene](/source/Paul_Mascarene), 1729 (LACMA)
File:SamuelSewall.jpg|''[Samuel Sewall](/source/Samuel_Sewall)'', 1729, [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Boston).
File:Edward Winslow by John Smibert.jpeg|''[Edward Winslow](/source/Edward_Winslow_(silversmith))'', c. 1730-1731, [Yale University Art Gallery](/source/Yale_University_Art_Gallery).
File:Francis Brinley MET DT53 (cropped).jpg|''[Francis Brinley](/source/Francis_Brinley)'', c. 1729, [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art).
File:1737 EdmundQuincy byJohnSmibert MFABoston (cropped).jpeg|Portrait of [Edmund Quincy](/source/Edmund_Quincy_(1681%E2%80%931737)), in the [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Boston).
File:Thomas Hancock portrait (cropped).jpg|1730 portrait of [Thomas Hancock](/source/Thomas_Hancock_(merchant)) in the [Museum of Fine Arts](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Boston) in Boston
File:John Smibert - Sir John Rushout, Bt. - Google Art Project.jpg|[Sir John Rushout, 4th Baronet](/source/Sir_John_Rushout%2C_4th_Baronet)
File:John Cotton by Smibert.jpg|The Rev John Cotton 1690-1757 By Smibert
File:Colonel Paul Dudley Sargent. 1745-1827 (1920) (14597859800).jpg|Catherine Winthrop Sargent, married 1744 as the second wife of Col. [Epes Sargent (soldier)](/source/Epes_Sargent_(soldier)), from a portrait by [Smybert](/source/John_Smybert) which is in the [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Boston).
File:Malachy Salter.jpg|[Malachy Salter](/source/Malachy_Salter), [Province House (Nova Scotia)](/source/Province_House_(Nova_Scotia))
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
{{commons category|John Smibert}}
;Primary sources
* {{cite book|last=Smibert|first=John|date=1969|url=https://archive.org/details/notebookofjohnsm00smib|title=The Notebook of John Smibert|location=Boston|publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society|oclc=6380|via=the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)}}
* {{cite journal|last=Vertue|first=George|author-link=George Vertue|date=1934|title=The Note-Books of George Vertue Relating to Artists and Collections in England (III)|journal=The Walpole Society|volume=22|at=whole issue|jstor=i40086509}}
;General studies
* {{Cite book|last=Foote|first=Henry Wilder|url=https://archive.org/details/johnsmibertpaint0000foot/|title=John Smibert, Painter With a Descriptive Catalogue of Portraits, and Notes on the Work of Nathaniel Smibert|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1950|location=Cambridge|oclc=900850057|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive}}
* {{cite book|first=Richard H.|last=Saunders|date=1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wklq3JItYOgC|title=John Smibert: Colonial America's First Portrait Painter|location=New Haven, London|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-04258-2|oclc=31607421}}
;Additional notes
* {{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/31880971|title=Depicting Berkeleyan Idealism: A Study of Two Portraits by John Smibert|last=O'Donnell|first=C. Oliver|date=2017|journal=Word & Image|volume=33|issue=1|pages=18–34|doi=10.1080/02666286.2016.1230698 |via=[Academia.edu](/source/Academia.edu)}}
* {{cite journal|first1=Charles|last1=Deane|first2=Augustus T.|last2=Perkins|first3=Oliver|last3=Wendell Holmes|date=1878|title=December Meeting, 1878|journal=Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society|volume=17|pages=380–475|jstor=25079537|postscript=. See pp. 385–399 for A. T. Perkins' reports, "Portraits by Blackburn" and "Portraits by Smibert"}}
* {{cite book|last=Rather|first=Susan|date=2016|url=https://archive.org/details/americanschoolar0000rath/|url-access=registration|title=The American School: Artists and Status in the Late-Colonial and Early National Era|location=New Haven, London|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-21461-1|via=the Internet Archive}}
* {{Cite book|last=Rebora|first=Carol|url=https://archive.org/details/johnsingletoncop0000unse_e2m5/|title=John Singleton Copley in America|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art, H. N. Abrams|year=1995|isbn=0-87099-744-0|location=New York|type=exhibition catalogue|oclc=1244862408|display-authors=etal|url-access=registration|via=the Internet Archive}}
;Reference works
* {{Cite book |last=Bénézit |first=Emmanuel |author-link=Emmanuel Bénézit |title=[Benezit Dictionary of Artists](/source/Benezit_Dictionary_of_Artists) |publisher=Gründ |year=2006 |isbn=2-7000-3082-6 |volume=12 |location=Paris |page=[https://archive.org/details/benezitdictionar12bene/page/1349/mode/1up 1349] |orig-year=first published in French in 1911–1923 |via=the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)}}
* {{cite DNB|wstitle=Smibert, John|first=Lionel Henry|last=Cust|author-link=Lionel Henry Cust|volume=52|page=405}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Kalfatovic|first=Martin R.|date=1999|title=Smibert, John|url=https://archive.org/details/americannational20garr/page/118/mode/2up|encyclopedia=[American National Biography](/source/American_National_Biography)|editor-last=Garraty|editor-first=John Arthur|editor-link=John A. Garraty|editor-last2=Carnes|editor-first2=Marc Christopher|volume=20|pages=118–120|location=Oxford, New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-512799-4|oclc=1028044182|via=the Internet Archive}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia|title=Smibert, John|date=1996|encyclopedia=[The Dictionary of Art](/source/Grove_Art_Online)|publisher=Grove's Dictionaries|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofart28turn/page/869/mode/1up|last=Saunders|first=Richard H.|editor-last=Turner|editor-first=Jane|volume=28|pages=869–871|isbn=1-884446-00-0|oclc=1033666104|via=the Internet Archive}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Saunders|first=Richard H.|title=Smibert, John|date=2004|encyclopedia=[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)|editor-last=Matthew|editor-first=H. C. G.|editor-last2=Harrison|name-list-style=amp|editor-first2=Brian|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, New York|page=1001|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198614004/page/1001/mode/1up|via=the Internet Archive|volume=50|isbn=0-19-861400-4|oclc=1035757202}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Sizer|first=Theodore|date=1935|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer17amer/page/228/mode/2up|title=Smibert, John|editor-last=Malone|editor-first=Dumas|editor-link=Dumas Malone|encyclopedia=[Dictionary of American Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_American_Biography)|volume=17|location=New York|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|pages=228–230|oclc=1042927728|via=the Internet Archive}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|editor-link=Hans Vollmer|date=1937|title=Smibert (Smybert), John|editor-last=Vollmer|editor-first=Hans|encyclopedia=[Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler](/source/Thieme-Becker)|language=de|volume=31|location=Leipzig|publisher=E. A. Seemann|pages=158–159}}
==External links==
* {{FadedPage|id=Smibert, John|name=John Smibert|author=yes}}
*''[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/82989/rec/60 John Singleton Copley in America],'' a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on John Smibert (see index)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smibert, John}}
Category:1688 births
Category:1751 deaths
Category:18th-century American painters
Category:18th-century American male artists
Category:American male painters
Category:18th-century Scottish painters
Category:18th-century Scottish male artists
Category:Scottish male painters
Category:Painters from Boston
Category:People from colonial Boston
Category:Scottish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
Category:Painters from Edinburgh
Category:Burials at Granary Burying Ground
Category:Scottish portrait painters
Category:American portrait painters
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Smibert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smibert) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smibert?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.