John Smith (1781–1855) was a 19th-century British art dealer who developed the concept of the
catalogue raisonné.
Smith was born in
London. He began dealing in
art as a framemaker, specializing in wood-carving and gilding.[1] He became an art dealer and art consultant known for his "reasoned catalog" of painters that he wrote in 8 volumes and sold by subscription to his art clients during the years 1829 to 1837, and to which he added a 9th volume as a supplement in 1842.
Volume 9 – Supplement (1842): Includes corrections to the preceding volumes and new additions[10]
Smith died in
Hanwell. His work was carried on and expanded by
Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, who published a new update to his catalogue in German starting in 1907, that was later expanded and translated into English by Edward G. Hawke, along with a concordance of catalog numbers.
^Volume 9: A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters : in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures; a statement of the prices at which such pictures have been sold at public sales on the continent and in England; a reference to the galleries and private collections, in which a large portion are at present; and the names of the artists by whom they have been engraved; to which is added, a brief notice of the scholars & imitators of the great masters of the above schools, by "Smith, John, dealer in pictures" on
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