Francis Hopkinson Smith (1838-1915) American, Oil on Canvas Venetian Canal Landscape. Impressionist oil painting depicts a atmospheric Venetian canal scene featuring a grand palazzo facade reflecting softly onto tranquil waters with a gondola moored alongside. Signed lower left. Framed.

Overall Size: 34 x 39 1/2 in. 

Sight Size: 24 1/4 x 29 1/2 in. 

Francis Hopkinson Smith (1838–1915) was an American painter, illustrator, author, and engineer whose varied career made him one of the more distinctive figures of late nineteenth-century American art. Born in Baltimore, Smith was largely self-taught as an artist and became particularly admired for his watercolors and charcoal drawings, often depicting landscapes and picturesque scenes from his extensive travels in the White Mountains, Europe, Mexico, and the Caribbean. He was active in the American Water Color Society and the Tile Club, and his travel sketches were published in several popular books, combining his drawings with his own writing. Alongside his artistic career, Smith was a successful engineer and contractor whose major projects included the Race Rock Lighthouse and the foundation of the Statue of Liberty. In later life he became a best-selling author, but continued to paint and exhibit, leaving a body of work noted for its fluid draftsmanship, atmospheric effects, and appreciation of picturesque landscapes.

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