John Smibert
John Smibert (Also known as John Smybert) was a Scottish American artist. You can find John Smibert paintings in various art museums:
- The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Daniel, Peter, and Andrew Oliver
- The Art Gallery, Yale University - The Bermuda Group
- Smithsonian American Art Museum - A Member of the Livingston Family
- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Portrait of Samuel Pemberton
- Faneuil Hall - Peter Faneuil Portrait
The painting at Yale University was John Smibert favorite painting as it hung in his Boston office for everyone to see.
Bronze 20" x 20" Monument
Next to the entrance to the Granary Burying Ground is this monument:
Here lies John Smibert
Painter 1688 - 1751
Cherish A Man Such As This
Erected by the City of Boston
John B. Hynes, Mayor
In tiny print you can see: "Ca Ascieri Adi Biccari." I wasn't able to find the date that the Bronze monument was placed, but I suspect it was in 1951 which would have been the 200 anniversary of John Smibert death.
Five things I learned about John Smybert
- Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1688 and died in Boston in 1751.
- Considered to be America's First Portrait Painter.
- Organized Boston's first painting exhibition in 1730.
- In 1742, John Smybert designed Faneuil Hall. Faneuil Hall was destroyed in a fire in March 1761, it was rebuilt shortly after keeping many of the original designs.
- He is buried in an unmarked grave at the Granary Burying Ground, Boston, MA.
- In Colonial times people that couldn't afford their gravestones were buried in unmarked graves. It's possible that John Smibert was a poor man when he died.