biografia di John Rowson SMITH (1810-1864)

Birth place: Boston

Death place: Philadelphia

Addresses: Philadelphia, 1830-31; frequent travel thereafter; Carlstadt, NJ, 1848-

Profession: Scenic and panoramic artist, landscape painter

Studied: John Rubens Smith, in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, before 1830

Exhibited: PAFA, 1830-31

Work: Shelburne (VT) Mus.

Comments: He was the son of John Rubens Smith (see entry) and was sometimes called J.R. Smith, Jr. He showed several views at PAFA and became a scene painter after 1832, working in Philadelphia, New Orleans, St. Louis, and other cities. Smith took up panorama painting at the end of the 1830s and in 1844 he completed a panorama, four miles long, depicting the Mississippi, sending it on a successful tour of the U.S. and Europe. After the European tour was completed in 1848, he moved to a farm at Carlstadt (NJ). He continued to paint scenery for theaters in NYC and other cities, especially in the South.

Sources: G&W; DAB; Rutledge, PA; McDermott, Newsreel--Old Style." More recently, see Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 357-58; Campbell, New Hampshire Scenery, 151; Muller, Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum, 128 (w/repro.)"