Aberdeen from the South

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

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.
John Clark, watercolourist and aquatint engraver, specialised in topographical, sporting and marine views. He remains something of a mystery today as virtually nothing is known of his life. This may be partly the result of his not uncommon name. Clark toured Scotland during the summer of 1823, making sketches for his series of aquatint prints ‘Views in Scotland’ (published in parts in 1824-25, under the patronage of George IV). Other works apparently in the same hand and presumed to be by John Clark are alternately signed ‘J. Clark’ and ‘I. Clark’. To further complicate matters, Clark’s work has frequently been confused with that of John Heaviside Clark (c.1771-1863), an engraver and painter of landscapes and seascapes, born in Scotland.

Places

Scotland, Aberdeen, River Dee (Scotland), Dee Estuary

Subjects

topography, landscape C19th, townscape/cityscape, Victorian Genre, tree, cow, river, Scottish, coat of arms, sailboat

Materials & Techniques

aquatint, coloured aquatint

Artist

George, (of Chichester) Smith (1713/14 - 1776)
John Clark

Title

Aberdeen from the South

Date

Medium

Coloured aquatint

Acquisition

Purchased from Sotheby's, 6 November 1957

GAC number

3946