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    300 years
    "Solkin 1982" Is linked to these Works of Art
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    Commodore Thomas Smith

    Commodore Thomas Smith
    Commodore Thomas Smith
    Commodore Thomas Smith
    Courtesy of Viscount Cobham
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Commodore Thomas Smith
    Date
    Dated 1744
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 209.7 x 144.2 cm
    Imperial: 82 1/2 x 56 3/4 in.
    Collection
    Hagley Hall, Worcestershire. To license image, click here.
    Wilson Online Reference
    P9
    Description
    Full-length and full-size portrait to the right in a brown velvet coat with looped gold braid detailing round the buttons, ending in an elaborate knot of sequins. The sitter's coat is lined with red silk and his waistcoat and breeches are of the same material. White lace froths at his cuffs and collar. Smith wears a grey full-bottomed wig and leans on the plinth of a broken column, holding a telescope in his left hand, with legs nonchalantly crossed in a pose based on a classical figure of Mercury (Uffizi, Florence) that was to become commonplace later in the century. Behind him is the sea and, in the distance, at the left, his new command, the Royal Sovereign is taking in provisions.
    Exhibited
    Birmingham City Art Gallery, Midland Art Treasures, 1934 (45); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (2)
    Provenance
    Probably commissioned by the sitter after November 1744, to celebrate his appointment as Commodore; thence by descent
    Signature/inscription
    Signed and dated centre right on the plinth by the hand: R. Wilson | 1744
    Techniques and materials
    Thinly painted overall, probably on account of the size
    Labels
    [1] Modern label on side of frame lower right: No 129
    [2] Verso upper left: City of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery | R. Wilson | Villa Madam | Lent by Lord Cobham | 12
    Subject
    Thomas Smith (c.1706/7-1762) was the natural son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Bart, and one of Wilson's most important early patrons. At the date of this painting he had been made a commodore in the royal navy, though he was later raised to the rank of admiral. As a junior lieutenant in the Gosport 43 guns, at Plymouth in 1728, Smith achieved some notoriety by forcing a French corvette to salute him and dip her pennant on departure. The incident was exaggerated by the press and Smith was removed from the navy for a few months, but earned the nickname, 'Tom of Ten Thousand'. Commander-in-Chief at Leith, Scotland, from 1745-47, he was Captain of H.M.S Bridgewater, which transferred the Jacobite Flora MacDonald from Scotland to London in 1746. By chance, as senior officer at Portsmouth in 1756-57, he served as president of Admiral John Byng's court martial. When Byng was found guilty of neglect of duty, Smith was forced to pronounce the death sentence on him, though with a strong recommendation for clemency. However, this was ignored by King George II and Byng was executed at Portsmouth.
    Related Drawings
    D1 Study for the Portrait of Admiral Thomas Smith, National Galleries of Scotland
    Related Prints
    E1 John Faber the Younger, Thomas Smith Esq., Vice Admiral of the White, 1746, The British Museum (1935,0413.149) and other impressions
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Critical commentary
    As Wilson's earliest dated portrait this is something of a tour de force. Brian Allen has pointed out that it clearly demonstrates Wilson's capacity to challenge his more fashionable contemporary rivals, Allan Ramsay and Thomas Hudson (Solkin 1982, p. 144). The concept is clearly based on the prototype of Hogarth's Captain Coram (1740 Foundling Museum, London), though the composition has much in common with the formula of Batoni. The broken column, at the upper right, however, may be a gentle reminder of Smith's illegitimacy.
    Bibliography
    Letter 1751; Farington Biographical Note; Anon A Catalogue of the Pictures at Hagley Hall, London 1900, no. 129; Waterhouse 1953, p. 174; WGC, pp. 62, 151, pl. 2b; Sale cat., The Lyttelton Papers, Sotheby's London, 12 December 1978, p.101 (cat. 79); Solkin 1982, pp. 144-45
    More Information
    The eldest legitimate son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton and thus brother to Smith was Sir Richard Lyttelton (1718-1770), who bought a number of pictures from Thomas Jenkins in Rome and was portrayed there by Batoni in 1762 (Hagley Hall, Worcestershire)
    Condition/Conservation
    Kate Lowry has noted: Glue relined. Probably grey ground. Background quite thinly painted. Face and figure more solidly painted. Face quite mask-like with clear gap between face and wig. Good rendition of gold braid and frogging of coat and silk stockings. There is some damage in the lower foreground on the paved floor, otherwise in good condition. Unglazed carved frame with palm branches, probably not contemporary with work.

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Study for the Portrait of Admiral Thomas Smith, National Galleries of Scotland

    Prints

    • John Faber the Younger (c.1684-1756) after Wilson, Thomas Smith Esq., Vice Admiral of the White, The British Museum
    • John Faber the Younger (c.1684-1756) after Wilson, Thomas Smith, Esq (Admiral Thomas Smith), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • John Faber the Younger (c.1684-1756) after Wilson, Admiral Thomas Smith, Private Collection, England
    • John Faber the Younger (c.1684-1756) after Wilson, Thomas Smith, National Portrait Gallery, London

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Admiral Thomas Smith, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

    Exhibitions

    • London, Tate Gallery, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, and New Haven, Conn., Yale Center for British Art, 3 November 1982 - 19 June 1983

    Biographies

    • Admiral Thomas Smith (1707-1762)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse, Painting in Britain 1530-1790
    • Richard Wilson, Letter to Admiral Smith
    • Elizabeth Wilson, Letter to Admiral Smith
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