Anker Smith (1759–1819) was an English engraver.

Life

Smith was born in

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, England, which forms part of the A40 road, A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St Martin's Le Grand with Poultry, London, Poultry. Near its eas ...

, London, where his father was a silk merchant. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, and at first articled to an uncle named Hoole, a solicitor; but he transferred to James Taylor, an engraver and younger brother to

Isaac Taylor Isaac Taylor (17 August 1787 – 28 June 1865) was an English philosophical and historical writer, artist, and inventor. Life He was the eldest surviving son of Isaac Taylor of Ongar. He was born at Lavenham, Suffolk, on 17 August 1787, and ...

, with whom he remained until 1782. Subsequently, he became an assistant to James Heath, and then one of the leading English line engravers. Smith died of

apoplexy Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...

on 23 June 1819.

Works

In 1787 Smith found his first independent employment with John Bell, for whose series of ''British Poets'' he engraved many of the illustrations. Through his relative

John Hoole John Hoole (December 1727 – 2 August 1803) was an English translator, the son of Samuel Hoole (born 1692), a mechanic, and Sarah Drury (c. 1700 – c. 1793), the daughter of a Clerkenwell clockmaker. He became a personal friend of Samuel Johnso ...

he became known to

John Boydell John Boydell ( ; – 12 December 1804) was an English publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated an English tradition in the art form. A former ...

, who commissioned him to engrave

James Northcote James Northcote (22 October 1746 – 13 July 1831) was a British Painting, painter. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1787, and a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1809 ...

's picture ''Death of Wat Tyler''; the print was published in 1796, and earned for him election as an associate of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in the following year. In 1798 Smith executed a large plate from

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

's cartoon of the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...

in the possession of the Academy. For the rest of his life Smith worked on illustrations to fine editions of standard works, such as: *

Thomas Macklin "The Cottagers" (inspired by Thomson) painted by Reynolds and commissioned by Macklin in 1788, featuring his daughter, Maria, (left), and his wife, Hannah (right) and friend (Jane Potts ( Edwin Landseer's mother), standing). Thomas Macklin (1752 ...

's Bible, 1800; * Boydell's "Shakespeare" (the smaller series), 1802; * George Kearsley's "Shakespeare", 1806; *

Robert Bowyer Robert Bowyer (; bap. 18 June 1758 – 4 June 1834) was a British miniature painter and publisher. Bowyer was born in Portsmouth to Amos and Betty Ann Bowyer and baptized on 18 June 1758. His first job was as a clerk to a merchant in Portsmout ...

's edition of

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...

's ''History of England'', 1806; and * John Sharpe's ''British Classics''. He engraved many of Robert Smirke's designs for the ''Arabian Nights'', 1802; ''Gil Blas'', 1809; and ''Don Quixote'', 1818; and was one of the artists employed on the official publication ''Ancient Marbles in the British Museum''. His last work was a large plate from Thomas Heaphy's picture, ''The Duke of Wellington giving Orders to his Generals'', which he did not live to complete.

Family

Smith married in 1791, and left a widow, one daughter, and four sons, including the sculptor Frederick William Smith and the painters Herbert Luther Smith and Edwin Dalton Smith. His sister Maria, who was an artist, and exhibited portraits between 1791 and 1814, married William Ross, a miniature-painter, and was the mother of

William Charles Ross Sir William Charles Ross (3 June 1794 – 20 January 1860) was an English portrait and portrait miniature painter of Scottish descent; early in his career, he was known for historical paintings. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1842. ...

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Anker 1759 births 1819 deaths Associates of the Royal Academy English engravers