Edward Robert Smythe was a masterly English painter of rustic landscapes and an exhibitor at London’s Royal Academy.

Born in the historic port town of Ipswich, Smythe possessed a keen interest in drawing from an early age and presumably sketched numerous views of the Suffolk coastline. He associated with several local painters, such as Fred Russell and Walter Hagreen, and quickly established himself as an artist of repute. With an abundance of inspiration at his fingertips, he was soon elected to the Ipswich Society of Artists and opened a studio at the ‘Old Shire Hall’.

Ipswich is one of England’s oldest towns, and during the early part of the 19th century, it was still predominantly driven by agriculture. However, with the advent of industrialisation, its emphasis shifted towards engineering and manufacturing, which gradually eroded its rustic charms. It’s telling that Smythe, who was an artist with a deep connection to nature, moved to Bury in 1851, which had retained its agricultural roots.

It’s evident from the tone of his oeuvre that he was fixed upon a certain view of the world, and treasured both the uncomplicated endeavour of rural communities and the gnarled beauty of the Suffolk countryside. Like Constable and Gainsborough before him, he delighted in the ‘rugged realism’ of his local environs - leaning timber-framed cottages, overgrown foliage, weary cattle groups, and dog-eared inn-dwellers. Rarely does a tree grow straight in his rustic rose-tinted utopia.

His ‘A Farrier Shoeing a Plough Horse with a Donkey in a Forge Interior’, painted in 1899, is reminiscent of works by George Morland (1763-1804) and could’ve been produced a century earlier.

Edward Robert Smythe, A Farrier Shoeing a Plough Horse with a Donkey in a Forge Interior (1899)

Resisting a move to London, he remained in East Anglia throughout his life and was supported by significant patronage from aristocratic admirers. These included Lord Cardigan, who commissioned an oil painting titled ‘The Charge of Balaclava’, which was subsequently bequeathed to Queen Victoria.

In old age, he returned to St Matthew's, Ipswich, to live with his daughter and son-in-law. He was still working at 89.

He’s represented in numerous public collections, including at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum, and Weston Park. The artist, Emma Smythe (1819-1877), was his sister.

Exhibited

British Institution, Suffolk Fine Arts Association, Ipswich Fine Art Club, Woodbridge Art Exhibition.

Public Collections

Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum, Weston Park.

Timeline

1810

Born in St Matthews, Ipswich, England. Son of accountant James Smyth (1780-1863) and Sarah Harriet nee Skitter (1783-1845).

1832

Elected a member of the Ipswich Society of Professional and Amateur Artists.

Trained under Henry Davy.

Initially worked from a studio at Old Shire Hall, Ipswich.

c. 1840

Moved to Norwich to study with the Norwich School of Painters.

1843

Entered a competition to produce frescoes for the new House of Parliament.

c. 1845

Returned to Ipswich.

1846

Commissioned by the Marquis of Bristol to produce a large oil painting to form of background of a lion exhibit at Ipswich Museum.

1848

Married Ellen Burman (1827-1879) of Ipswich.

1850

Exhibited at the Suffolk Fine Arts Association.

1851

Lived in Elmswell, Suffolk, with his wife, son and staff. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist’.
Moved to Bury St Edmunds.

c. 1855

Commissioned by James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, to produce an oil painting depicting the ‘famous charge of Balaclava’.

1861

Lived in Bury St Edmunds, with his wife, four children and staff. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist - Portrait Painter’.

1871

Lived in Bury St Edmunds, with his wife, three children and staff. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist’.

1881

Lived in Heigham, Norfolk, with his daughter and staff. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist (Painting in Oil)’.

1886-1898

Exhibited at the Ipswich Fine Art Club.

1889

Exhibited at the Woodbridge Art Exhibition.

1891

Lived in St Matthews, Ipswich, with his daughter, son-in-law and staff. Occupation recorded as ‘Landscape + Animal Painter (oils)’.

1899

Died in Ipswich.

Obituaries

The Evening Star & Daily Herald

“Having almost reached to nonagenarian years, Mr. Edward Robert Smythe, the widely admired Suffolk artist, died at half-past two o'clock on Wednesday morning, in the same Ipswich parish in which he was born - that of St. Matthew's. 

Since his birth, in 1810, there has been a wonderful expansion of the limits of the town, yet, seeing the light for the first time in Berners Street, he passed away nearly 90 years later in Burlington Road, a thoroughfare which saw its development when he had arrived at the mid-way stage of his long life, and yet only a few stones' throw from the house in which he was born. 

His father was for many years the manager of Bacon's Bank, and his remains rest in the family vault in St. Matthew's Churchyard. From a very early age, the son, whose death we announce with regret, evinced a keen liking for drawing, which was marked with conspicuous ability, but his great desire, as a young man, was to go into the Army, for which his fine physique and bearing would have stood him in good stead. Restrained, however, in his wish in this respect, his proficiency with his pencil brought him into touch with those young local artists, Fred Russell, Walter Hagreen, and Sam Read, and from this association his tastes were led in the direction of the study of painting, with results which became widely recognised, not only locally, but in the great art exhibitions of the nation. 

With the confreres we have named, he had a studio in common in the old Shire Hall, and many an amusing episode he could narrate as to their work at this period. He was amongst those who entered into the competition for the frescoes in the House of Commons, and his drawing, together with that of a French artist, was reserved to the final selection, but the foreigner's was chosen. The charcoal drawing of this example of Mr. Smythe's genius was for many years the property of the late Mr. Thomas Neale Fonnereau and was sold at the dispersal of the effects in the Mansion of Christchurch. 

The late Mr. Smythe was, during a long succession of years, an exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and later in his career, the annual exhibitions of the Ipswich Fine Art Club and like art collections at Norwich were enriched by his works. At all of these, he received most favourable comments from art critics in the press, and amongst Suffolk artists in oils of the present century, he undoubtedly commanded a distinguished position, his studies of animal life being particularly true to nature. 

After the famous charge of Balaclava he was commissioned by Lord Cardigan to paint a picture representative of the memorable event, a proof that his power as an animal painter had gained national recognition. Lord Cardigan and other officers in the engagement gave him many sittings, and their chargers were also sent down from London in order that the painting might be a faithful reproduction in its every detail. We believe that at the death of Lord Cardigan this historical picture, which naturally claimed a very large canvas, was bequeathed by his Lordship to the Queen, and that it is now in Windsor Castle. 

A work of Mr. Smythe's which, during the many years it has been on view, has been admired by thousands upon thousands of people, is the large oil painting forming the background of the cavernous den of lions in the Ipswich Museum, which he painted as long ago as 1846 for the then Marquis of Bristol, by whom it was presented to the town. 

Mr. Smythe was also conspicuous for at least one example in etching which will have an enduring fame. This was the fine series he did to illustrate Mrs. David Hanbury's beautiful book, dedicated to the Countess of Stradbroke, and entitled ‘One Day in the Life of a Stag,’ based upon the matchless lines from Sir Walter Scott's ‘Lady of the Lake’: -

Alone but with unabated zeal 
That horseman plied the scourge and steel:-
For jaded now and worn with toil, 
Embossed with foam and dark with soil; 
While every gasp with sobs he drew 
The labouring stag strained full in view.

Representative works of the deceased artist are held and prized by many of the nobility in East Anglia, whilst in Ipswich Mr. Alfred Stearn and other keen patrons of art have fine collections of his pictures. 

Mr. Smythe had a thorough knowledge of colour and feeling, especially in tender greys, for which, indeed, he will long be noted. Until last January, his upright form, accentuated by the military bearing upon which, as we have indicated, he prided himself as a young man, was to be seen in the streets of Ipswich, few who had not his personal acquaintance thinking he had reached such a patriarchal age. When thus in his usual health and vigour, unmistakable indications of a breaking-up of his majestic constitution manifested themselves, and these culminated in an illness under which the grand old artist gradually sank. 

He died at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. G. R. Chilver, 30, Burlington Road, Ipswich, with whom he had resided for some years. Mr. Smythe leaves two daughters - one the wife of Surgeon General Sparrow, of Exeter, and the other Mrs. G. R. Chilver; and a son was killed in the Zulu War. The funeral will take place on Saturday, at Ipswich Cemetery, leaving the house at half-past eleven o'clock.”