James Smith

Inscriptionback to top

Christie's stencil on stretcher 912 … (obscured) and label inscribed: James Smith Esq/painted by J. Lonsdale/S. Davies (last word uncertain).

This portraitback to top

The portrait was painted in about 1835 but remained in Lonsdale's studio until his death in 1839. It is briefly mentioned in a letter to Mrs Torre Holme 5 December 1837: 'I too (insignificant I) shall live upon canvass in the studio of Lonsdale the painter in Berners-street (No.6). On the death of the painter, his goods and chattels will come to the hammer, and a century hence I may be seen in a broker's shop in Frith Street, Soho, peeping out amid a motley assemblage of old iron, etc... So much for human glory!' (Comic Miscellanies, Selection from his Correspondence and Memoir, ed. Horace Smith, 1841, I, p 68). He bought it at Lonsdale's sale and gave it to Mrs Holme. His grandson, J. Horace Round, thought it so 'hard and poor and in such bad condition' that he declined to buy it preferring the mezzotint by Cousins (letter to the NPG 15 August 1905 in NPG archive).

Physical descriptionback to top

Half-length to right aged c.60, left hand on walking-stick, right on arm of chair, dark grey overcoat with black collar, black neckcloth, red edge of undercoat or waistcoat; sparse grey hair and whiskers, bald head, hazel eyes, fresh complexion; red curtain top left corner.

Provenanceback to top

The artist and the sale of his effects in 1839, bought by James Smith and given by him to Mrs Torre Holme; bought by the NPG from her granddaughter Miss Beatrice Holme 1905.

Reproductionsback to top

Mezzotint by H. Cousins published 1 December 1835 by M. M. Holloway; stipple by S. Freeman, head and shoulders only published in Letters of James Smith, 1837.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for James Lonsdale

View all known portraits for James Smith