A DYNASTY OF DEALERS SMITH LONDON

SCR A Dynasty of Dealers: John Smith and his Successors A Study of the Art Market in 19th Century London The Roxburghe Club 2013 First edition. Printed for presentation by Charles Sebag-Montefiore to members of the Roxburghe Club. 250 copies are available for sale A Dynasty of dealers: John Smith and Successors 1801-1924 is a study of the London art market for Dutch and Flemish picutres in the nineteenth century, based on 364 unpublished letters between the art dealer John Smith, his sons and their customers. His clients included the Prince Regent (later George IV), the Duke of Wellington, Lords Bute, Lansdowne and Northwick, Sir Robert Peel, Sir Charles Bagot, Ralph Bernal and William Beckford, as well as members of the Baring, Hope and Rothschild banking families, and the firm dealt in works by artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Rubens. For around seventy years John Smith's firm acted as a leading London dealer, and had curatorial responsibility for Lord Ellesmere's celebrated collection of pictures at Bridgewater House, St James's, a role that lasted for three generations, and a lesser role for Lord Ashburton's collection at Bath House, Piccadilly, which lasted for as many. Smith was also the author of the pioneering Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, nine substantial volumes covering forty-one artists, published between 1829 and 1842. Folio, original red buckram lettered in gilt on spine. A fine copy. cf. SMITH'S CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ DUTCH FLEMISH & FRENCH PAINTERS Fine Leather Bound Copy cf. ROYAL ACADEMY LONDON Copy Catalogue Raisonné Of The Works Of The Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, And French Painters; In which is included a short Biographical Notice of the Artists, With A Copious Description Of Their Principal Pictures; A Statement Of The Prices At Which Such Pictures Have Been Sold At Public Sales On The Continent And In England; A Reference To The Galleries And Private Collections, In Which A Large Portion Are At Present; And The Names Of The Artists By Whom They Have Been Engraved; To Which Is Added, A Brief Notice Of The Scholars And Imitators Of The Great Masters Of The Above Schools: By John Smith, Dealer In Pictures, Late Of Great Marlborough Street. - Part The First. (- Ninth.) John Smith RA Collection: Book Record number 07/195 Author John Smith Imprint London:: Published By Smith And Son, 137, New Bond Street., MDCCCXXIX. (- MDCCCXLII.) Physical Description 9 vols.; 240 mm. (Octavo.) General Note Vol. I: xxx, [2], 412 p., frontis. (port.). - Vol. II: lxii, [2], 418 p., front. (port.), [1] pl. - Vol. III: xxxiv, 502 p., front. (port.). - Vol. IV: xx, 326 p., front. (port.). - Vol. V: [4], 458, [2] p., front. (port.). - Vol. VI: vii. [1], 574 p., front. (port.). - Vol. VII: liv, [2], 287, [1] p., front. (port.), [2] pl. - Vol. VIII: lxv, [1], 486 p. front. (port.). - Vol. IX: ix, [3], 884, [2] p. Contents Vol. I: [Half-t., front., t.p., dedic.] - Introduction; Observations - [Text] - Index; [colophon]. - Vol. II: [Half-t., front., t.p.] - Acknowledgments - [Text and 1 pl.] - Index; Errata. - Vol. III: [Half-t., front., t.p.] - Preface; Errata - [Text] - Index. - Vol. IV: [Half-t., front., t.p.] - Preface - List Of Subscribers; Errata - [Text] - Index. - Vol. V: [Half-t., front., t.p.] - [Text] - Index - [Notice] - Errata; [colophon]. - Vol. VI: [Half-t., front., t.p.] - Advertisement - [Text] - Index; [colophon]. - Vol. VII: [Half-t., front., t.p.] - Introductory Observations - [Text and 2 pl.] - Index; [note]; [colophon]. - Vol. VIII: [Half-t., front., t.p.] - To Subscribers - [Text] - Index; [colophon]. - Vol. IX: [T.p.] - Preface; Note; Errata - Contents - [Text] - Index; [colophon] - Index To Addenda. Responsibility Note The frontispiece portraits of Vols. I-VIII are signed by source-artists and engravers, Source-artists were G. Dow, A. Van Dyck, A. Van Dyck, J. Steen, Ronbrandt, M. Van Muscher, Rembrandt and N. Poussin. Reproducers were S. Mountjoy Smith (draughtsman), C.W. Marr (engraver), C. Hamburger (lithographer), Chas. G. Lewis (engraver). The additional plate in Vol. II. is signed as lithographed by J. Netherclift. The first additional plate in Vol. VII is signed as drawn by Albertus Brendgeest and engraved by C.G. Lewis; the second, as made by J. Netherclift. Most plates carry the imprint of the publisher, Smith & Son, 137 New Bond Street, and some carry that of the lithographic printer, C. Hullmandel. The text printers are named on the title-page versos and in the colophons: (vols. 1-8) 'London: Printed By T. Brettell, Rupert Street, Haymarket'; (vol. 9) 'London: Richards, Printer, St. Martin's Lane.' The work is dedicated by John Smith to Robert Peel. References C. Hofstede de Groot, A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, tr. E.G. Hawke (8 v., 1907-27); 'Smith's Catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish and French painters: a memoir of the author by his grandson', in Connoisseur, 5 (1903), p.213-16. G. Schwarz, 'Rembrandt: connoisseurship et erudition', in Rev. A., 42 (1978), p.100-06. Summary Note The dates of publication are given on the title pages of the nine volumes as 1829, 1830, 1831, 1833, 1834, 1835, 1836, 1837 and 1842. This ambitious catalogue has been described as a 'landmark' in connoisseurship, although it was inevitably incomplete and several of Smith's attributions have been revised. In his introduction Smith writes on such practical matters as the cleaning and lining of pictures and on the standards to be maintained in art-dealing. The text catalogues works by the following painters: Vol. I. G. Dow, P. van Slingelandt, F. van Mieris, W. van Mieris, A. Ostade, I. Ostade, P. Wouwermans; Vol. II. Rubens; Vol. III. A. Van Dyck, D. Teniers the younger; Vol. IV. J. Steen, G. Metsu, G. Terburg, G. Netscher, H.E. Vander Neer, A. vander Werf, P. de Hooge, N. Maes, G. Cocques; Vol. V. N. Berghem, P. Potter, A. Vander Velde, K. du Jardin, A. Cuyp, J. Vander Heyden; Vol. VI. J. Ruysdael, M. Hobbema, J. and A. Both, J. Wynants, A. Pynaker, J. Hackaert, W. Vander Velde, L. Backhuysen, J. Van Huysum, R. Ruisch; Vol. VII. Rembrandt; Vol. VIII. N. Poussin, Claude, J.B. Greuze; Vol. IX addenda on most of the above artists. The frontispiece portraits of Vols. I-VIII show Gerard Dow, Peter Paul Rubens, Antony Van Dyck, Jan Steen, Nicolas Berghem, William Vander Velde junior, Rembrandt and N. Poussin. The additional plate in Vol. II shows a facsimile of the handwriting of Rubens; those in Vol. VII show [1] Rembrandt's house, Amsterdam, and [2] a facsimile of Rembrandt's handwriting. Copy Note Imperfect: lacks the half-title of Volume IV. Binding Note 19th-century half red morocco, red cloth-covered boards; spines lettered 'Smith's Catalogue Raisonné' and 'R.A.' Name as Subject Peter Paul Rubens Anthony Van Dyck David Teniers the younger Rembrandt Subject Painters - Artists - Netherlands - Belgium - France - History Catalogues raisonnés - Art history - Great Britain - 19th century Contributors S. Mountjoy Smith, draughtsman Charles W. Marr, engraver C. Hamburger, lithographer Charles George Lewis, engraver Joseph Netherclift, lithographer Charles Joseph Hullmandel, lithographic printer Thomas Brettell, printer Charles Richards, printer Sir Robert Peel 2nd Baronet, dedicatee Smith and Son (London), publisher www.polygraphicum.de archives <> The first catalogue raisonné of Rembrandt’s paintings was established by the London art dealer John Smith. Published in 1836, it originated as part of a larger series, itself motivated by the author’s endeavour to transcend his daily business while at the same time aiming to combine ‘pleasure and profit’. Investigating Smith’s connoisseurial practices, this essay looks at his surviving correspondence and unpublished, hitherto unexamined archival materials. Among these are the notebooks which Smith kept during his many travels in Great Britain and on the continent. The archival record also shows that a systematic consultation of auction catalogues was of particular importance for Smith. The manner in which he arrived at his judgments – though clearly shaped by a specific commercial context – speaks of a truly personal style. Finally, the article also publishes an unknown portrait of Smith.