The Hop Pickers / Les Ceullieurs d’Houblon

Location

Country: France
City: Paris
Place: British Embassy

George Smith of Chichester, a prolific painter of landscapes, was born in Chichester to a man who combined the trades of baker and cooper with the calling of a Baptist minister. His brothers, William and John, were also landscape painters; George often collaborated on works with his brother John. George Smith exhibited at the Society of Arts in London during the 1760s and early 1770s (he won prizes there in 1760, 1761 and 1763) and at the Royal Academy. His paintings were popular and many of them found a wider audience through the medium of engraving. Before he specialised in landscape painting, Smith painted still lifes; and in addition to practising as an artist, he was also a poet and a musician.
Francois Vivares was born near Montpellier, France. He was apprenticed to a tailor but made drawings, etchings and engravings in his spare time. He moved to London, aged 18, to study under French engraver and draughtsman Jean-Baptiste-Claude Chatelain and later under Italian painter Jacopo Amigoni. By 1744 he was publishing prints. He opened a print shop near Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), producing prints after his own work, that of his pupils and ‘of the best Masters’. He became one of the most renowned landscape engravers of his time and is particularly known for engravings after the works of French painter Claude Lorrain. In 1766, he became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists. He died in London, aged 71.

Places

Subjects

farmer/farm labourer, landscape C18th, genre, hop, tree, cow, dog, sheep, elderly woman, boy, man, woman, girl, 18th century costume, dress, breeches, basket, fence, cottage, window, chimney, thatched roof

Materials & Techniques

engraving

Artist

George, (of Chichester) Smith (1713/14 - 1776)
Francois Vivares (1709 - 1780)

Title

The Hop Pickers / Les Ceullieurs d’Houblon

Date

4 August 1760

Medium

Engraving

Dimensions

height: 39.4 cm, width: 48.4 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Colnaghi, October 1953

GAC number

2326