William Collingwood Smith
Encyclopedia
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
- 15 March 1887 Brixton Hill
Brixton Hill
Brixton Hill is the name given to a 1 km section of road between Brixton and Streatham Hill in south London, England. It slopes downhill towards central London.Brixton Hill and Streatham Hill form part of the traditional main London to Brighton road...
), was a noted English watercolourist.
William's father worked for the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
and was a musician and amateur artist. William had no formal training in art, but had studied under James Duffield Harding
James Duffield Harding
James Duffield Harding , English landscape painter, was the son of an artist, and took to the same vocation at an early age, although he had originally been destined for the law...
. Initially he painted in oils, but later became a proficient watercolourist. In 1843 he became an Associate, and subsequently a Member, of the Society of Painters in Water Colours which later became the Royal Watercolour Society
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is an English institution of painters working in watercolours...
, serving as treasurer for some twenty years, and starting its Art Club. He also joined the New Society of Painters in Water Colours
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours , initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, , is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London.-History:In 1831 the society was founded as the New Society of Painters in Water...
.
Specialising in marine and river scenes, and sweeping landscapes, he turned out more than a thousand paintings and drawings. He travelled extensively in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and on the Continent
Continent
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
, often painting scenes which had news interest. His images were often engraved and reproduced in the Illustrated London News
Illustrated London News
The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...
. Shipping scenes he painted included HMS Dreadnought
HMS Dreadnought (1801)
HMS Dreadnought was a Royal Navy 98-gun second rate. This ship of the line was launched at Portsmouth at midday on Saturday, 13 June 1801, after she had spent 13 years on the stocks...
, which took part in the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
. His first exhibition at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
was in 1836 and his last in 1855, also exhibiting with the Water Colour Society
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is an English institution of painters working in watercolours...
and at the Suffolk Street Galleries.
He enjoyed an outstanding reputation as a teacher so that his classes at Wyndham Lodge, 13 Brixton Hill, included not only amateurs, but also professionals, and military and naval officers. His works are to be found in numerous galleries, both public and private. His wife, Jane Sophia Egerton, also painted and exhibited with the New Society of Painters in Water Colours .
His grave is in the West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery is a cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and...
.