John Smith (art historian)

John Smith
Born	1781 London
Died	1855 Hanwell
Nationality	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

John Smith (1781–1855) was a 19th-century British art dealer who developed the concept of the catalogue raisonné.

Smith was born in London. He began dealing in art as a framemaker, specializing in wood-carving and gilding.^[1] He became an art dealer and art consultant known for his "reasoned catalog" of painters that he wrote in 8 volumes and sold by subscription to his art clients during the years 1829 to 1837, and to which he added a 9th volume as a supplement in 1842.

• Volume 1 (1829) : Gerard Dou, Pieter van Slingelant, Frans van Mieris the Elder, Willem van Mieris, Adriaen van Ostade, Isaac van Ostade, Philips Wouwerman ^[2]
• Volume 2 (1830) : Peter Paul Rubens ^[3]
• Volume 3 (1831) : Anthony van Dyck, David Teniers the Younger ^[4]
• Volume 4 (1833) : Jan Steen, Gerard ter Borch, Eglon van der Neer, Pieter de Hooch, Gonzales Coques, Gabriel Metsu, Caspar Netscher, Adriaen van der Werff, Nicolas Maes, Godfried Schalcken ^[5]
• Volume 5 (1834) : Nicolaes Berchem, Paulus Potter, Adriaen van de Velde, Karel Dujardin, Albert Cuyp, Jan van der Heyden ^[6]
• Volume 6 (1835) : Jacob van Ruysdael, Meindert Hobbema, Jan Both, Andries Both, Jan Wynants, Adam Pynacker, Jan Hackaert, Willem van de Velde, Ludolf Bakhuizen, Jan van Huysum, Rachel Ruysch ^[7]
• Volume 7 (1836) : Rembrandt ^[8]
• Volume 8 (1837) : Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Jean-Baptiste Greuze ^[9]
• Volume 9 - Supplement (1842) : Includes corrections to the preceding volumes and new additions ^[10]

Smith died in Hanwell. His work was carried on and expanded by Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, who published a new update to his catalogue in German starting in 1907, that was later expanded and translated into English by Edward G. Hawke, along with a concordance of catalog numbers.

References

• John Smith in the Dictionary of Art Historians