William Thompson Russell Smith

William Thompson Russell Smith (Glasgow, Scotland 1812 – Glenside, PA, 1896) was a Scottish-American painter who produced iconic images of Pennsylvania's landscape inspired by the aesthetic of the Hudson River School.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Smith was brought to the United States in 1819 by his parents, who lived in western Pennsylvania and settled in Pittsburgh.

At the beginning of his career, Smith found considerable success in painting commercial signs and backgrounds for theatrical productions.

During this time that he began to write poetry and produced smaller-scale landscape paintings that were inspired by his theatrical scenery.

He became friend of Rembrandt Peale, who published a very favorable article on the artist in the Gazette of the United States, and he was steadily patronized by Philadelphia's conservative social elite.

Portrait of William T. Russell Smith by John F. Francis (private collection)
The Baths of Titus, Monte Cavi from the Palatine, Rome (c. 1851–52), New Britain Museum of American Art , Connecticut.
Russell, Mary Priscilla, and Mary Smith