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John "Warwick" Smith was born the son of a gardener. It was a fortunate coincidence for the boy that his father was employed by the prestigious Gilpin family of artists. Sawery Gilpin was a famous animal painter, his brother William Gilpin ran an art school. So Smith was able to study art with Sawery Gilpin. The Gilpins regularly took the young Smith on their drawing excursions in the country between 1770 and 1776. Smith showed a special talent for topographic drawings. He was commissioned by the engraver Samuel Middleman to create landscape scenes for his work "Select Views in Great Britain". During a journey to Derbyshire in 1775 Smith met the 2nd Lord of Warwick, George Greville. Greville became his greatest patron. His nickname Warwick derives from his close relationship with Greville.
Greville enabled Smith to travel to Italy between 1776 and 1781. He spent some time in Naples, Rome and the Campania region, among other places. This trip earned him the name of the Italian Smith. There he met other British artists such as Thomas Hearne, William Pars and Francis Towe, with whom he later maintained a close relationship. With Towe, he began his return journey to England, making a few stops on the Italian and Swiss lakes to paint the extraordinary landscape. Back in England Smith settled in Warwick. There he married Elizabeth Gerrard, who was still under age, in 1783. Apart from a second trip to Italy between 1785 and 1786 with Lord Warwick's brother Robert and the painter Julius Caesar Ibbetson, Smith spent the rest of his life mainly in England. He undertook many domestic journeys. He spent particularly much time in Wales and in the north-west of the Lake District.
When Smith was accepted into the Watercolor Society, he decided to settle in London in 1807. He exhibited regularly with the Society until 1823 and was an active member before he finally retired. For several years, he was elected president of the Society and took over other positions again and again. But Smith was not so much appreciated by all his contemporaries. William Turner, for example, described his style as "mechanically systematic". Many critics agreed that his work became increasingly traditional towards the end. What was innovative, however, was his use of color. Contrary to the old tradition of landscape painting, Smith began to avoid painting outlines in ink and instead relied exclusively on strong colors. In paintings such as "Bay by Moonlight," he also created the reflections of moonlight by scraping off the previously applied pigments from the canvas, thus revealing the white canvas beneath.
John "Warwick" Smith was born the son of a gardener. It was a fortunate coincidence for the boy that his father was employed by the prestigious Gilpin family of artists. Sawery Gilpin was a famous animal painter, his brother William Gilpin ran an art school. So Smith was able to study art with Sawery Gilpin. The Gilpins regularly took the young Smith on their drawing excursions in the country between 1770 and 1776. Smith showed a special talent for topographic drawings. He was commissioned by the engraver Samuel Middleman to create landscape scenes for his work "Select Views in Great Britain". During a journey to Derbyshire in 1775 Smith met the 2nd Lord of Warwick, George Greville. Greville became his greatest patron. His nickname Warwick derives from his close relationship with Greville.
Greville enabled Smith to travel to Italy between 1776 and 1781. He spent some time in Naples, Rome and the Campania region, among other places. This trip earned him the name of the Italian Smith. There he met other British artists such as Thomas Hearne, William Pars and Francis Towe, with whom he later maintained a close relationship. With Towe, he began his return journey to England, making a few stops on the Italian and Swiss lakes to paint the extraordinary landscape. Back in England Smith settled in Warwick. There he married Elizabeth Gerrard, who was still under age, in 1783. Apart from a second trip to Italy between 1785 and 1786 with Lord Warwick's brother Robert and the painter Julius Caesar Ibbetson, Smith spent the rest of his life mainly in England. He undertook many domestic journeys. He spent particularly much time in Wales and in the north-west of the Lake District.
When Smith was accepted into the Watercolor Society, he decided to settle in London in 1807. He exhibited regularly with the Society until 1823 and was an active member before he finally retired. For several years, he was elected president of the Society and took over other positions again and again. But Smith was not so much appreciated by all his contemporaries. William Turner, for example, described his style as "mechanically systematic". Many critics agreed that his work became increasingly traditional towards the end. What was innovative, however, was his use of color. Contrary to the old tradition of landscape painting, Smith began to avoid painting outlines in ink and instead relied exclusively on strong colors. In paintings such as "Bay by Moonlight," he also created the reflections of moonlight by scraping off the previously applied pigments from the canvas, thus revealing the white canvas beneath.