John ‘Warwick’ Smith

Inscribed on original label now attached to backboard: General Distant View of the Carnarvonshire Mountains, seen from the road beyond Llangerniew,/going by the Vale of the Elwyn from St Asaph to Llanrwst-Principal in this Towering Group, are Moel Siabod, Snowdon, The Glyders/ and Trevaon Denbighshire, watercolour over pencil.13 x 20.8 cm.; 5 1/8 x 8 ¼ inchesProvenanceGeorge Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746-1816), no. 17, part of an album sold at Sotheby’s, 17 June 1936;With Leger Galleries, 1980; Christie’s, London, 20 November 1984, lot 113, where bought by a private collector, until 2024Smith seems to have been fascinated by the Welsh countryside and dated drawings, often inscribed ‘taken on the spot’, point to visits nearly every year from 1784-1798, after his return from Italy.The artist was born in Cumberland and patronised by 2nd Earl of Warwick who sponsored his travels to Italy in 1776 and whose name became the artist’s sobriquet. Smith spent five years in Rome and Naples, befriending William Pars and Thomas Jones, in whose Memoirs he is frequently referenced. He travelled home in 1781 through Switzerland with Francis Towne and was among the most admired watercolourists of his day.

KT494Inscribed on original mount in pen and brown ink: Portland., watercolour over pencil13.3 x 22.5 cm.; 5 ¼ x 8 7/8 inchesFrame size 27 x 35.5 cm.; 10 5/8 x 14 inchesProvenanceCothill Antiques, sold on 1 July 1970 toThomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., no. 33077, catalogue no. 30;Private collection, U.K. 1971 - 2021The artist was born in Cumberland and patronised by 2nd Earl of Warwick who sponsored his travels to Italy in 1776 and whose name became the artist’s sobriquet. Smith spent five years in Rome and Naples, befriending William Pars and Thomas Jones, in whose Memoirs he is frequently referenced. He was one of the most admired watercolourists of his day.

Inscribed verso: At Naples, and inscribed in pencil on reverse of old mount: At Naples, watercolour over pencil on laid paper watermarked with the Strasburg Lily, on the artist’s original wash-line mount28.9 x 34.5 cm.; 11 3/8 x 13 ½ inchesProvenanceWalker’s Gallery, 27 June 1944;With Agnew’s, London, (11245) until 2 March 1945 when sold toSir Francis Watson, KCVO, FSA (1907-1992);His sale Christie’s, London, 10 July 2014, lot 196;With Karen Taylor Fine Art;Private collection U.K. until 2024Smith was in Naples from March 1778 until July 1779, sponsored by George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746-1816), the nephew of Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803), the British ambassador in Naples, who supported him in Italy from 1776-1781 and was to own around seven hundred drawings by him. The artist arrived the year after the eruption of Vesuvius which can be seen smouldering in this drawing, a subject which fascinated Smith and many contemporaries alike. His highly popular Italian drawings earned him another eponym, John ‘Italian’ Smith and embody the eighteenth century appeal of the Picturesque and the Grand Tour.While he was in Italy visiting Rome, the Campagna and Naples, Smith met many other British artists working there, notably J.R. Cozens, Francis Towne and Thomas Jones.Smith’s work was admired by his contemporaries for its elegant beauty and particularly for his accomplished handling of colour washes, amply demonstrated in this work, particularly in the sky.The artist Julius Caesar Ibbetson noted, ‘In tinted drawings no one, I believe, ever came near the tint of nature as Mr John Smith’.Sir Francis Watson was the Director of the Wallace Collection, London from 1963-1974 and a leading authority on the arts of Italy and France in the eighteenth century. His 1956 Catalogue of Furniture in the Wallace Collection raised the level of scholarship in the decorative arts and was internationally applauded. In the late 1960s he catalogued the Wrightsman collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The author of books on Tiepolo, Canaletto, and Fragonard he was Surveyor of the Queens’ Works of Art, Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford (1969-70) amongst several other prestigious academic positions. He derived great pleasure from his own collection, and enjoyed the hunt for reasonably priced treasures, as hilariously described in his obituary in The Independent by Sir Brinsley Ford.

Watercolour over pencil, the original wash-line mount inscribed recto: View from the Gate of St John Lateran, Rome and signed, titled, inscribed and dated verso: I. Trevelyan 179516.7 x 24.1 cm.; 6 ½ x 9 ½ inchesProvenanceSir John Trevelyan, 5th Baronet (1761-1846);Abbott and Holder Ltd., June 2018;Private collection U.K. until 2024The original wash-line mount is behind the watercolour inside the frame.Sir John Trevelyan, 5th Baronet, travelled in Italy in 1781 and was to become one of the artist’s most important patrons. There are groups of Smith’s Italian watercolours from Trevelyan’s collection in the British Museum and in the V&A, which has a similar watercolour looking back towards the Porta St. Giovanni dated 1795 (FA.582).St John Lateran is considered to be the oldest church and Archbasilica in the world, founded by Pope Melchiade in 324 on the ruins of the villa of the Laterani family.

Inscribed and dated on fragments of the original mount attached to reverse of frame: Ruins of Clun Castle Montgomeryshire./June 24th. 1792, watercolour over pencil on paper watermarked J WHATMAN14.7 x 22.5 cm; 5 ¾ x 9 inchesFramed size 38.5 x 46 cm.; 15 ¼ x 18 inchesProvenanceLowell Libson Ltd, London, Watercolours and Drawings, 16 November – 9 December 2005, no. 16This drawing was part of a group on the market in 2005, many of which were views of Wales. Smith seems to have been fascinated by the Welsh countryside and dated drawings, often inscribed ‘taken on the spot’, point to visits nearly every year from 1784-1798, after his return from Italy.The artist was born in Cumberland and patronised by 2nd Earl of Warwick who sponsored his travels to Italy in 1776 and whose name became the artist’s sobriquet. Smith spent five years in Rome and Naples, befriending William Pars and Thomas Jones, in whose Memoirs he is frequently referenced. He travelled home in 1781 through Switzerland with Francis Towne and was among the most admired watercolourists of his day.