John Raphael Smith (1751–1812)

• John Raphael Smith was a British painter and mezzotinter.

• He was the son of the landscape painter Thomas Smith and the father of John Rubens Smith, a painter who emigrated to the United States.

• John Raphael Smith was baptised at St Alkmund's Church in Derby, England, on 25 May 1751.

• He was named after the High Renaissance artist Raphael.

• Determined to pursue a print-making business in London, in 1767 he moved to the capital, making additional income from production of miniatures.

• Almost immediately he met Ann Darlow, he proposed and they were married on 20 May 1768 at the Chapel of Savoy.

• Smith became a London publisher from 1781, including among his clients the radical writer and artist William Blake.

• After a divorce from Ann, on the grounds of adultery, he lived with Emma Johnston, mother of his child, artist Emma Smith.

• Smith's third relationship was with Hannah Croome, by whom he had another two children, who survived him.

• In 1793, he opened the Morland Gallery in King Street, Covent Garden, whence he issued catalogues of his prints.

• Next