The present work is by the distinguished 18th-cetnury landscape and still life painter, George Smith of Chichester, an artist who was affectionately praised during his own lifetime as the ‘English Claude’, after the French master Claude Lorrain (1600-82). Both his brothers William (1707-64) and John (1717-64) were also well-established artists in their own right and the three often collaborated on commissions. Collectively they came to be known as ‘The Three Smiths’ or the ‘Smiths of Chichester’, such was the novelty of having three equally talented artists heil from the same family. In the Chichester Guide and Directory (c. 1804) the brothers were described thus:

“the three Smiths… of whom it is no more than justice to say that their lives were as exemplary as their paintings, of which it would be improper in us to say anything; their own merit will more effectively secure their reputation as long as virtue, learning and genius are esteemed among mankind” .

The present still life is a fine example of the genre and it depicts an arrangement of food and culinary utensils atop a strikingly luminous tablecloth, positioned against a contrasting dark background. The effect of this dramatic dichotomy serves to reinforce George Smith’s technical prowess when producing an illusionistic scene. Still-lifes were a testament to an artist’s skill at rendering objects, whether commonplace or exotic, to appear three-dimensional upon a two-dimensional plane. The resultant work, as typified here, was intended to be a convincing tromp l’œil. The loaf of bread shown here is executed with particular sense of weight and materiality.

A still life of this style and subtlety closely resonates with the French painter Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (1730-1788), a likely influence upon George Smith. In fact, such is the similarity apparent between the two artist’s still-lifes that the present work has been previously misidentified as being by Chardin, including an erroneously added later signature (since removed). The name Chardin is repeated on the reverse upon a label from the conservation practice H Hammond, which can most likely be identified as H.A Hammond Smith, a freelance restorer based in New York in the 1920’s who worked upon the distinguished collection of pictures in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard, founded in 1895. Particularly popular during the seventeenth century, still-lifes, or vanitas, often tended to show an abundance of food, living or decaying vegetation, insects and natural curiosities designed to remind the viewer of the temporality of life, thus acting as a pictorial memento-mori, and as a warning that a life filled with opulence and overabundance is a life of vanity. Perhaps less imposing as a reminder of mortality in this example, Still Life with Bread and Meat is first and foremost a study in technical skill and rejoices in a particularly English and commonplace spread of meat, bread and metal ware. The bread appears to be a cutting loaf for sandwiches, popular in England from the 18th century.

This still life of bread and meat closely resonates with other works and George Smith’s numerous still-lifes. For example, when compared to the painting Bread and Ale [1753] the approach to composition and the modelling of the subject matter is almost identical. Furthermore, the chosen array of objects shown in both works including the distinctive rounded loaf is suggestive of an artist working from a standardised assemblage. It is therefore possible that the present work is a variation of Bread and Ale; both paintings exhibiting the same treatment of subject matter and composition. Indeed, this particular still life was so highly appreciated during the artist’s own lifetime that he was encouraged to produce repetitions of this composition.

After returning to London in the 1740s, George was hired by the Duke of Richmond, who remained his patron and supporter until the Duke’s death in 1766. Sharing a studio with his younger brother John, the brothers re-visited Chichester and its picturesque landscapes frequently. George was particularly captured by the beauty of the Arun Valley, a common iconographical feature in his works. In 1758, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce published a list of premiums that were to be offered to individuals for their artistic achievements. George was awarded the first premium for the category of best original landscape. After the success of the first competition, both George and John remained loyal to the Society, exhibiting a total of fourteen paintings in 1761 alone.

It is, perhaps, George whose work has become emblematic of the group’s provincial sophistication. In particular, his capacity to interpret contemporary advancements in the genre and apply them to his own compositions such as the convincing treatment of light distribution throughout a scene as influenced by the weather or the time of day. George Smith also became a master at introducing narrative intrigue into his landscapes through the use of figures busing themselves with activity, such as seasonal harvests. In addition to being compared to the titan of French landscape painting, Lorrain, George was also referred to as the ‘British Gessner’, a comparison that serves to highlight his international aspirations.

George’s continuing success allowed him to make his first solo appearance at the Royal Academy in London in 1775, where he exhibited four paintings. Shortly after in 1776 he died at his home in Chichester, leaving his wife, Ruth Southen, and three daughters.