Benjamin Smith (engraver)

Biography

Smith studied stippling techniques under Francesco Bartolozzi, one of the most famous and sought after engravers of the 18th Century. During his career Smith engraved many fine plates after the designs of contemporary masters such as William Hogarth, William Beechey and George Romney. He also created portrait engravings of such noteworthy individuals as Marquis Cornwallis and George III.

Benjamin Smith, one of the foremost engravers of London, was for some years largely employed by John Boydell, who commissioned him to engrave many of the most important plates for his Shakespeare Gallery and for his Poetical Works of John Milton set, which were published between 1794 and 1797. These were some of Smith's best works. Five were after George Romney, Thomas Banks and Mather Brown for the Shakespeare series. Others included Sigismunda, after William Hogarth; a portrait of Hogarth with his dog Trump; portraits of Lord Cornwallis after John Singleton Copley, George III after Sir William Beechey and Napoleon after Andrea Appiani; The Lord Mayor Newnham taking the Oaths after William Miller; and several allegorical and biblical subjects after John Francis Rigaud and Benjamin West. Among his smaller pieces, some self-published, were portraits of Lord Charlemont, and the actors William Barrymore, William Smith, and Anne and Charles Dibdin.

In the period 1801 to 1804, Smith worked on Charles Smith's New English Atlas, specifically on the maps for Devon, Sussex and Berkshire.

In 1810 whilst sailing to Portugal for business, Smith and partner engraver Joseph Bye were captured by a French privateer and imprisoned in France for 4 years until peace was declared in 1814. They returned to Edinburgh where they worked as journeyman engravers for book sellers and map engravers W.H. Lizars.

In 1817 Smith and Bye were convicted at Dover of uttering forged Margate Bank notes and initially sentenced to death. Petitions for clemency included individual petitions from Smith’s wife Mary and from William Bengo Collyer; 7 collective petitions (65 people); and 8 letters, including from Sir Robert Gardiner on behalf of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (uncle of Queen Victoria, later to be King Leopold I of Belgium); from ex-employer William Home Lizars and his son Daniel Lizars; from publisher John Murray; and from the mayor and justices of the peace for the town and port of Dover. Murray's letter stated that “Bye and Smith shewed great ingenuity in engraving maps but did not excel in engraving written characters” [necessary for forging banknotes].

Smith and wife Mary had four children and lived in the Battle Bridge (Kings Cross) and Somers Town areas of London. Smith died in 1833 in relative poverty at 21 Judd Street, Somers Town.

Smith's pupils included William Holl the Elder, Henry Bryan Hall, Henry Hoppner Meyer, Albin R. Burt, Thomas Uwins and Robert Cabbell Roffe.

Works