Biographies

Francis Hopkinson Smith (1838 – 1915) He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on the 23rd of October 1838, a descendant of Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He became a contractor in New York City and did much work for the Federal government, including the foundation for the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in New York harbour, the Race Rock Lighthouse off New London, Conn., and many life-saving stations. His vacations were spent sketching in the White Mountains, in Cuba, in Mexico, and afterwards in Venice, Constantinople and Holland. He published various volumes of travel, illustrated by himself. In 1918 Ezra Pound (writing as B. H. Dias) said this of him: “An old man named Hopkinson Smith, who used to be seen painting in Venice, could have given Sir Alfred [East] valuable hints upon water colour” . (NA 23.16:255)