SMART, John (1752-1838)

1752 - 1838

John Smart was born at Ufford, Suffolk in 1752, son of John Smart, husbandman, and his wife Susanna née Baxter. Smart kept a print-shop in Upper Brook Street, Ipswich 1793-1798 where he also taught drawing. He married firstly at St Peter's Church, Ipswich on 31 October 1791, Sarah Abbott by whom he had a son John Smart and secondly Judith (1765-1816), who in 1800, kept a milliner’s shop and was thirteen years his junior and her death is noted in the Suffolk Chronicle on 5 October 1816 'Yesterday morning, after a long affliction, age 54, Mrs Smart, wife of John Smart, limner of Ipswich'. John exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1786 also at the Norwich Society of Artists from Ipswich in 1813 'View on the River Orwell, the tide going out' which was also exhibited at the Royal Academy in the same year there are some other portraits from a London address in the same period which is another John Smart (1741-1811) with whom he is conflated. John Smart, the elder, around 1820 painted a portrait of actress Mary Ann Keeley which, in 1898, she wished to be exhibited in Ipswich Theatre in place of a later painting of her in old age. Smart was buried at St Lawrence church, Ipswich on 1 March 1838, aged 85. The illustration shows Lady Middleton and her children, Sarah on the left who married Admiral Sir Philip Vere Broke with Louise and William Middleton, jun. of Crowfield Hall, Suffolk. The painting was sold at the Broke's former family home, Shrubland Hall, Ipswich sale in 2006. The Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service have a number of satirical drawings by an Ipswich John Smart (1756-c.1813) which may be by this artist. The confusion with this artist is compounded by an article in the 'Madras Weekly Mail' on 17 July 1878 entitled European Artists in India which has been copied and is incorrect.

Royal Academy Exhibits
only those from Ipswich unless stated
1786 5 Portrait of a Young Lady
         24 Portrait of an Artist
1787 46 Portrait of a Gentleman, three quarters
         397 Portrait of a Lady
         437 Portrait of a Lady
from St Peter's Norwich
1788 70 Portrait of Mr Waddy, theatre Norwich
from Ipswich and at No. 8 Leicester Square, London
1793 180 Portrait of Marquis Cornwallis
from Ipswich
1794 193 Portrait of a Gentleman
1795 274 A Landscape
         292 A Portrait
1796 566 A Portrait - miniature
         634 Portrait of a Gentleman - miniature
with no address or initial
1797 124 A Landscape
         865 Portrait of His Highness Mohamed Alli Khan Bahander, late Nabob of Arnot
         912 A frame with four miniatures
from Ipswich
1798 539 Portrait of a Young Lady
         868 Portrait of Himself
1799 189 A Landscape
from unknown
1801 121 Landscape
1802 41 Portrait of an Artist
         65 A Landscape
1803 245 A Landscape
1804 304 Portrait of Mrs. Smart
1805 266 Cardinal Wolsey on his deathbed at Leicester Abbey
         411 Portrait of Miss Smart - miniature
from Ipswich
1808 722 Portrait of Young Roscius - miniature
1810 93 Providence Place, on the River Orwell, near Ipswich
1811 517 Moonlight
1813 47 View on the River Orwell: The tide going out

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Works by This Artist