Artist Bio
Smith, Francis Hopkinson
(1838-1915) The versatile and talented Francis Hopkinson Smith enjoyed
successful careers as an engineer, artist, and writer. Born in
Baltimore, Smith worked as a shipping clerk and in his brother’s iron
foundry. After the Civil War, he and partner James Symington
established the engineering firm they were to run for thirty years,
undertaking such notable projects as the construction of the
foundations for the Statue of Liberty, the Block Island breakwater, the
Staten Island sea wall, and the Race Rock Lighthouse. Smith was
self-taught as a painter. He illustrated some of his own books, which
included twelve novels and numerous travel journals based on his visits
to Europe, Mexico, and Turkey. His books proved so popular that he was
able to retire from engineering and devote his time to travel in Spain,
Italy and Constantinople. Smith was a striking figure and a popular
speak and raconteur, known for his tales of exotic lands. His
after-dinner stories provided the basis of his first novel. For over
thirty years he spent summers in Venice, painting en plein-air. He
preferred working outdoors in watercolor, his favorite medium, painting
landscapes, portraits, canals, boats and farm scenes. With Arthur
Quartley and Charles Stanley Reinhart, Smith was part of the artist
colony at Cold Spring Harbor in New York. He was a noted member of the
New York Tile Club, for which he illustrated books, sketches, and
stories. In 1898 he was made a Commander of the Order of the Mejidieh
and in 1900 he was named to the Order of Osmanieh by the Sultan of
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