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    300 years
    Return to "Faber" is linked to these Works 9 items
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    The Honble Thomas Smith, Esq., Rear Admiral of the Red

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    The Honble Thomas Smith, Esq., Rear Admiral of the Red
    The Honble Thomas Smith, Esq., Rear Admiral of the Red
    The Honble Thomas Smith, Esq., Rear Admiral of the Red
    Private Collection, England
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    Artist
    John Faber the Younger (c.1684-1756) after Wilson
    Title
    The Honble Thomas Smith, Esq., Rear Admiral of the Red
    Date
    c.1746
    Medium
    Mezzotint
    Dimensions
    Metric: 362 x 255 mm
    Imperial: 14 1/4 x 10 in.
    Collection
    Private Collection, England
    Wilson Online Reference
    E1B
    Description
    Three-quarter length portrait of Admiral Thomas Smith, standing leaning with his left elbow on the base of a broken column, holding a telescope in front of him, left knee bent and advanced, right hand on his hip, wearing a coat with large decorations around the buttons open over a silk jacket and a long wig. There are distant sails in the background to the left (unrecorded state).
    Provenance
    Grosvenor Prints, Covent Garden; bt 28 February 2012 by present owner
    Signature/inscription
    Lettered with title, 'The Honble Thomas Smith Esq. [continuing] Rear Admiral of the Red / Commander in Chief of his Majesty's Ships on the Coast of Scotland, Anno 1746', the Lyttelton coat of arms with the motto 'Ung Dieu et Ung Roy', and 'R. Wilson pinxt. / I. Faber fecit / Price 2s. London. Sold by Faber of the Golden Head in Bloomsbury Square'
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Critical commentary
    The sitter's great-nephew, John Thomas Smith, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, mentions 'a spirited half-length portrait, painted by the celebrated Richard Wilson [...] from which picture there is an excellent engraving in mezzotinto, by Faber.' (see bibliography).

    The rank of Rear Admiral of the Red was two grades below that of Vice Admiral of the White so it must be assumed that this is a very early state of the print. It does not feature in the catalogues of Chaloner Smith or Rusell.
    Bibliography
    J.T. Smith, A Book for a Rainy Day, 1845, pp. 3-4; Chaloner Smith, vol. 1, p. 426, cat. 333, variation of state I; Russell p. 96, cat. 333, variation of state I; sale cat., The Lyttelton Papers, Sotheby's London, 12 December 1978 p.101 (cat. 79)

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Study for the Portrait of Admiral Thomas Smith, National Galleries of Scotland

    Versions

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

    Paintings

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

    Biographies

    • Admiral Thomas Smith (1707-1762)
    • John Faber the Younger (c.1684-1756)

    Documents

    • John Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits; being a Descriptive Catalogue of these Engravings from the Introduction of the Art to the early part of the present Century
    • Richard Wilson, Letter to Admiral Smith
    • Elizabeth Wilson, Letter to Admiral Smith
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