SMIBERT, JOHN

born April 2, 1688, Edinburgh died March 2, 1751, Boston Smibert also spelled Smybert Scottish-born painter and architect who established a tradition of colonial portraiture in Boston largely based on the late-Baroque style of Sir Godfrey Kneller. Smibert was apprenticed to a house painter in Edinburgh and in 1709 went to London, where he worked for 19 years, except for a three-year visit to Italy. In 1728 he accompanied George Berkeley to Rhode Island as prospective professor of fine arts in the college for Indians that Berkeley hoped to establish in Bermuda. When this project failed, he went in 1730 to Boston, where he spent the rest of his life. He painted many prominent Bostonians but had to supplement his income by keeping a shop, where he sold art supplies and prints. His collection of copies of paintings by old masters and casts of ancient sculpture was unique in colonial America. It influenced the development of several later artists, notably Copley, Feke, Trumbull, and Allston. In 1742 he drew the plans for Faneuil Hall, Boston.