 |
| John Richard Coke Smyth, Self-Portrait, 1846. McCord Stewart Museum |
Recently, an interesting but badly framed offset print came into my possession. The image, titled, Indians of Lorethe, depicts an indigenous man wearing a capote and ceinture fléchée, who stands behind a seated woman wrapped in a blanket and resting her arm on the shoulder of a young child.
At first glance the print appeared to be hand-coloured lithograph from the first half of the 19th century, however, closer examination showed that it is of more recent vintage.
The artist was John Richard Coke Smyth (1808–1882). The image is misnamed, either by the artist or by the printer, and should properly be called Hurons de la Jeune-Lorrette.
John Richard Coke Smyth was born in Derbyshire, England, the only child of Richard Smyth (1783– ?), a “gentleman,” and Elizabeth Coke (1777-1851). His baptism was recorded at Derby on 1 May 1808.
Little is known about Coke Smyth’s early life. As a young man he travelled to Constantinople in 1835, a trip that also took him to Geneva, Florence, Dresden, Saltzburg, Vienna, Budapest, and Venice. Coke Smyth spent a year in Constantinople, creating sketches and other works. While there he met John Fredrick Lewis with whom he later collaborated on lithographs of Constantinople. Lewis used Coke Smyth’s sketches in creating the stone plates for his Illustrations of Constantinople, published in 1837.
 |
| 1842 printing of Sketches in the Canadas |
23 uncoloured lithographic views were printed in Sketches in the Canadas published in London in 1840. These landscapes and vignettes of 19th century Canadian life were dedicated to Lord Durham. Two years later the work was republished with the lithographs hand coloured.
Several of the plates depict Wendat (Huron) from Jeune-Lorette, a reserve now called Wendake located within the boundaries of Quebec City.
Many of the watercolour and pencil sketches produced by Coke Smyth in 1838 are in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, having been presented to the museum by Dr. Sigmund Samuel. Because Coke Smyth rarely signed his work, some of the sketches were misattributed to William Henry Barlett, an artist and contemporary of Coke Smyth who also visited Canada in 1838. Bartlett’s signature appears in the lower left-hand corner of the sketches, probably placed there by an over-enthusiastic dealer or collector. Stylistically the sketches do not resemble Bartlett’s other work which led Canadian art historian Mary Allodi in 1968 to identify the sketches in the ROM’s collection as having been done by Coke Smyth.
 |
| Entrance to Toronto, 1838. Private Collection |
Coke Smyth's watercolours occasionally come up for auction. Entrance to Toronto sold at A. H. Wilkens Auction House in Toronto for $1400 in November 2022. This work had previously been sold at Sotheby’s in 1969.
A facsimile copy of Sketches in the Canadas using the 1842 hand-painted edition held by the Royal Ontario Museum was published by Charles J. Munson in 1968. My copy of Indians of Lorethe was likely printed at the same time and sold separately. Strangely, the colours reproduced on the print and facsimile do not match the colours used in other copies of the 1842 printing, notably the colour of the man’s capote and the woman’s blanket.
In 1842, Coke Smyth was commissioned by Queen Victoria to produce “drawings from the original dresses” worn at a masked ball that she had hosted. Souvenir of the Bal Costume was published by Paul and Dominic Colnaghi in 1843.
Coke Smyth exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1842 and 1855; and at the British Institution and at the Royal Society of British Artists until 1867. His best known work from this period is The Eastern Storyteller that was exhibited at the 1854 British Institution Exhibition..jpg)
The Eastern Storyteller, 1854, Location unknown.
Coke Smyth also produced watercolours of scenes from Shakespeare, two of which are in the Folger Shakespeare Library. Some of his other watercolours, painted during his trip to Constantinople, can be found in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Wheaton College, and the British Museum.
Coke Smyth married 25-year-old Marian Hockett at Saint Giles, Cripplegate in London on December 22, 1845. Marian, who was born in London, was the daughter of Thomas Hockett, a coach builder. Coke Smyth and Marian lived in Hammersmith after their marriage.
Their daughter Marian Coke Smyth was baptised at St Peters, Hammersmith on April 11, 1847. The baptismal register notes that she was born on August 19, 1844 — 16 months before John Richard and Marian were married. Also born before the marriage was Elizabeth Amy, born on March 25, 1845 and baptised at St James, Westminster on Oct 1, 1845.
Coke Smyth had ten children. All but one survived to adulthood. His daughter Amy Frances died at the age of 5 months in August 1846.
At the time of the 1851 Census, Coke Smyth was living in Hampstead, Middlesex with his wife, his daughters Elizabeth and Marian, his son Norman, and his newborn daughter Florence. His occupation was recorded as “artist” and he had two servants. The family was still in Hampstead at the time of the 1861 Census, however, despite nine children, including one-year-old Emily, there was only one servant.
Coke Smyth wasn’t very conscientious about having his children baptised. Four of his children, 11-year-old Beatrice, 9-year-old Constance, 7-year-old Walter, and 6-year-old Harold, were all baptised in 1863 when the family was living in Highgate.
The family moved to the seaside resort of Brighton about 1867. Coke Smyth continued painting but no longer exhibited. He did contribute illustrations to Henry Beveridge’s five volume Comprehension History of India published in 1871.
Sketches from this period as well as some earlier sketches are in the collection of Dickinson College’s Trout Gallery in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Arundel Castle, Trout Gallery
By 1871, Coke Smyth's daughter, Elizabeth was working in Brighton as an elocutionist — a person who teaches the art of public speaking.
Coke Smyth’s son Norman died at Brighton on February 4, 1872 at the age of 24. His wife Marian died at Brighton four years later on May 2, 1876 at the age of 55. Later that year, Coke Smyth had his thigh broken in a railway accident.
By 1881, Coke Smyth had moved to Worthing, Sussex where he was living with his daughter Elizabeth who was now headmistress of a boarding school for girls.
John Richard Coke Smyth died in Worthing, Sussex on December 20, 1882, less than two weeks after the marriage of his youngest daughter, Emily.
Gallery
 |
 |
(Left) Indians of Lorethe from the 1968 facimile edition of Sketches in the Canadas. (Right) Indians of Lorethe from the 1842 printing.
 |
 |
 |
Three watercolour sketches by John Richard Coke Smyth in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum. Initially misattributed to William Henry Bartlett due to the signatures which were added later.
 |
 |
Moose Hunter and Citadel Quebec from the 1842 printing of Sketches in the Canadas. Source: McCord Stewart Museum
 |
The Yeni Valide Camii and the Süleymaniye Mosque, with the Golden Horn in the Foreground. A watercolour painted by Coke Smyth in 1835 or 1836 while in Constantinople. Source: Victoria and Albert Museum.
 |
 |
 |
Three images from Queen Victoria's copy of Souvenir of the Bal Costume published in 1843. Source: Royal Collection Trust
