Francis Hopkinson Smith
Francis Hopkinson Smith
American , 1838 – 1915
Francis Hopkinson Smith is known for his picturesque townscapes painted while traveling abroad to Europe , Turkey , Mexico , and Cuba . For much of his life , however , painting — which he mostly taught himself — was merely a hobby . Ironic , considering that his grandfather , Judge Joseph Hopkinson , was the first president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and his great-grandfather , Francis Hopkinson , was an amateur watercolorist ( he was also one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence ).
Smith was born in Baltimore and began working for his brother at the Calvert Iron Company at age sixteen , first as a shipping clerk and later rising to the ranks of superintendent . Following the outbreak of the Civil War , he was employed at an ironworks in Newburgh , New York . After a few years , Smith moved to New York City and established a civil-engineering firm with James Symington , also an artist . Together they worked on many noteworthy projects including the foundations for the Statue of Liberty and the Race Rock Lighthouse . During his years at the firm , he spent his summers sketching and painting en plein air in the White Mountains of New Hampshire . By the 1880s , Smith was able to retire from engineering , and he devoted himself exclusively to art , traveling , and writing . In 1886 , he co-authored A Book of the Tile Club . Following the dissolution of the group in 1887 , Smith , along with Club members Arthur Quartley and Charles Stanley Reinhart , developed an art colony in Cold Spring Harbor , Long Island . A prolific writer , Smith also wrote and illustrated numerous novels and travel journals — while touring Turkey , he must have made quite an impression on the Sultan for he was awarded the honorary title of Commander of the Orders of the Mejidieh in 1898 and of the Osmanieh in 1900 .
Napoleon Sarony ( American , b . Canada , 1821 – 1896 ), F . Hopkinson Smith , ca . 1893 , photographic print , 6 3/4 x 4 1/3 in ., Charles Scribner ’ s Sons Art Reference Dept . records , 1839 – 1962 , Archives of American Art , Smithsonian Institution .
REFERENCES : Ackerman , Gerald M . American Orientalists . Courbevoie / Paris :
ACR , 1994 .
Carbone , Teresa . Summers Abroad : The European Watercolors of Francis Hopkinson Smith . New York : Jordan-Volpe Gallery , 1985 .
Fuller-Walker , M . D . “ Francis Hopkinson Smith .” The Aldine 9 , no . 6 ( 1878 ): 195 – 198 .
“ Francis Hopkinson Smith .” American Art News 13 , no . 27 ( April 10 , 1915 ): 5 .
118 THE TILE CLUB : Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting