Sunday, November 30, 2008

Stephen Catterson Smith the Elder


[Princess Victoria aged 9 in a Landscape]
oil on panel
painted in August 1828, one of the earliest portraits of the Princess, later of course to become Queen Victoria. It was engraved in 1829 by Thomas Wright.
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1806 - 1872.
The artist, born in Yorkshire and trained at the Royal Academy schools and in Paris, was a portrait painter. He moved to Dublin in 1845, where he painted many well-known Irishmen and members of the Irish artistocracy. Smith was appointed Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in 1868.
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note: there is a lovely portrait of the Princess aged 4:
I can't see my young grand-daughter putting up with that costume!

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