2019 - Multiple Exposure

Virginia Geological Survey sketches by William Thompson Russell Smith (1812-1896)

Drawing Collection, Paintings Collection

Virginia Geological Survey, Records, 1834-1903. Accession 24815, State Government Records Collection
52 sketches. Pencil, ink, watercolor, pastel, and oil on paper and cardboard. Dimensions: Vary from 11 11/16 x 7 11/16 in. to 23 9/16 x 18 1/8 in.

Visual Studies Collection.
1 sketch. Watercolor on paper. Dimensions: 12 5/8 x 8 ½ in.

One hundred and seventy-five years ago this summer, William Barton Rogers and William Thompson Russell Smith boarded a train in Pennsylvania bound for Washington, D.C. Their ultimate destination was the western part of Virginia, where they intended to describe and document geological features. Rogers (1804-1882), a geologist, chemist, physicist, and professor at the University of Virginia, had begun work on a geological survey of Virginia in 1835. Although funding from the General Assembly ceased in 1842, Rogers believed a final report would eventually be authorized. He hired Smith, an artist he had worked with on previous geological publications, to illustrate this final report.

William Thompson Russell Smith (1812–1896), better known as Russell Smith, was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father brought the family to rural Pennsylvania in 1819 before moving to the growing town of Pittsburgh to be near schools. After studying with the portrait artist James Lambdin, Smith began developing a reputation as a theatrical scene painter and commercial artist. His lifelong affection for landscape painting and his work in scientific illustration both prepared him for his travels with Rogers.… Read the rest

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Collection of Colonial Governor Portraits by William Ludwell Sheppard (1833–1912)

State Art Collection
1877
3 paintings. Oil on canvas. Dimensions: De La Warr – canvas 29 ¼ x 25 ½ in.; frame 36 x 32 in. Dunmore – canvas 29 ¼ x 25 ½ in; frame: 36 x 32 in. Effingham – canvas 30 x 24 7/8 in.; frame 39 ½ x 34 ½ in.

On June 2, 1877, the Daily Dispatch reported that “W.L. Sheppard, Esq., artist of this city, will sail from New York for Europe on the 12th, and will be absent in France one or two years.” It was not unusual for 19th-century American artists to take extended tours through Europe to study with masters or visit museums to refine their craft. However, Sheppard, a Richmonder perhaps best known for his Civil War sketches and depictions of postwar southern life, had an additional reason for his trip. The Commonwealth of Virginia had commissioned him to paint portraits of three of Virginia’s colonial governors: Thomas West, third baron De La Warr; Francis Howard, fifth baron Howard of Effingham; and John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore.

William Ludwell Sheppard (1833–1912) started as a clerk in a Richmond merchant firm, but quickly realized that his true interest and talent lay in art. While he was initially a self-taught painter, he went to New York in the 1850s to work and study. On his first trip to Europe, in 1860, he visited museums … Read the rest