770.514.1766

oil on canvas
9” x 11”
signed and dated 1857 lower left
inscribed verso

Artist Biography

Born/lived: Edgehill, close to Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.

Known: for paintings expressing her passion for nature, especially chicks and chickens, which she loved to care for. She was from a family of artists, Russell Smith, her father, a well-known landscapist, Mary Priscilla Wilson Smith, her mother, a painter of flowers, and Xanthus Smith, her brother, a marine painter.

Studied: She started at age 14 to paint with her mother.

Exhibited: In 1876, Smith exhibited at the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia. She had often exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts between 1859 and 1869, and the National Academy of Design exhibited two paintings in 1868. In the student exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Mary Smith Prize was given yearly, until 1969, to women artists for their outstanding work, which she donated from sales of her paintings.

Work: Mary Smith’s paintings are in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and the Reading Public Museum, Pennsylvania.

Painting Features

Artist First Name Mary Russell
Artist Last Name Smith
Artist's Dates (1842-1878)
Materials oil on canvas,
Markings signed and dated 1857 lower left, inscribed verso
Size 9” x 11”
Price contact gallery
Comments Nicely framed and in excellent condition.