Music was not the only artistic pursuit of the Smietons. As we've seen from the
published pieces, both Jane Paxton Smieton and her son, James, were poets and
dramatists. In addition, Thomas and Jane were accomplished artists, both
exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy. A list of known publications (and associated events) follows: Thomas Smieton Peter J. M. MacEwan's Dictionary of Scottish Art & Architecture tells us that Thomas Smieton was a "painter", who exhibited at the 1st Royal Scottish Academy "from Panmure Villa". In the event, I have so far only traced a loan he made to the Academy in 1871 of a painting by Sam Bough. Similarly in 1873, he lent Sam Bough's The Vale of St John to the Fine Art Exhibition in Dundee Free Library and Museum Buildings in November 1873 (Lamb Collection 423(2)). Jane Paxton Smieton Poems and Ballads: Dundee, printed [by Winter, Duncan and Co., Castle Street] for private circulation, 1891 Dundee Central Library, Local Studies D997 Contains 52 poems and six sonnets. Some of the poems are extracts from longer works (such as Pearl and a cantata called "The Year"). Also includes the texts of "Under the stars", and "The Starlings", although no mention of it being published elsewhere (set to music by John More Smieton) is made. This is XXII: 'Tis now the month 'Tis now the month of smiles and tears,
Soft winds sigh through the lustrous wood, Where pipe of waking bird with brood Of downy warblers fills the ears With twinkling melodies that flow From every graceful hedge-row bough. In lengths of leafy shadow gleam Anemones of saintly white, That make the old sweet woodland light, And mystic as a fairy dream; While through the feathery haze of reeds, The murmuring blue gnat safely speeds. The dreamy silence of the dells Is stirred by sounds of many kinds; The languid passage of the winds Delights the meadow-hyacinth bells; While thousand wonder-flowers share The radiant hush of earth and air. The yearly miracle of leaves Again deliciously unfold Their wealth, beneath the sunset's gold; With throbbing stars, pale Luna weaves A palace fit in every grove For nightingales to sing their love! Classical tales and Sicilian idylls: Dundee, printed [by Winter, Duncan and Co., Castle Street] for private circulation, 1891, dedicated "to my son James Smieton M.A., B. Sc." Dundee Central Library, Local Studies D1080 Contains a Prelude called "Syracuse", 24 poems about ancient Greek mythology, and seven Sicilian Idyls [sic] on similar subjects Scots Poems and Ballads: Dundee, printed [by Winter, Duncan and Co., Castle Street] for private circulation, 1895, dedicated "To my son, John More Smieton" Dundee Central Library, Local Studies D1081 Contains 31 poems, ten called ballad. They include "O the burnie rins sae clear" (a part-song published by Parlane in Paisley in June 1888), "Wee Jeanie" (ditto, but without a date), and others marked "for music". MacEwan's Dictionary mentions works in oil and watercolour of landscape, often with buildings. She exhibited at RSA (17). The Bards of Angus and The Mearns (Alan Reid, F.E.I.S., published in 1897 by J and R Parlane, Paisley, John Menzies and Co., Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Houlston and Sons, London) tells us she was Sam Bough's "favourite pupil, and has exhibited her pictures in the academies for the last twenty years." To the right is one of her watercolour sketches, entitled Broughty-Ferry, as printed in Reid. Volume IV of Charles Baile de Laperriere's A dictionary of artists and their work in the annual exhibitions of The Royal Scottish Academy lists the following works (arranged by date and with their show numbers): 1869 Bridge of Garry, Pass of Killicrankie (856*) 1872 On the Dichty, Linlathen (806) and Sunrise in October (877) 1873 Waterfall at Edinample, Lochearnhead (825) and Moonlight on the Firth of Tay (948) 1874 A rocky pool, Glenogle Burn (746) and Afternoon on the Tay (785) 1875 November sunset, Firth of Tay (913), View of Garry, Pass of Killicrankie (943) and The Bridge of Garry, Pass of Killicrankie (949) 1876 The old pier, Broughty Ferry (835), The Black Bridge, Glentilt (885) and Cullercoats, Tynemouth (906) 1877 Bridge on the Girnaig, Killicrankie (812) and In the Grange, Monifieth (914) 1878 The Holy Loch (1011) 1879 Craig Meskeldie, Lochlee, Glenesk (888) 1880 Weir near Masham, Yorkshire (950) and Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire (958) 1883 Spate in Glen Sannox (1083) Mrs Smieton also contributed to the Dundee Fine Art Exhibitions (number after the dates refer to the shelfmark of catalogues held in Dundee Central Library's Lamb Collection): 1873 (423(2)) In the Wood (408) and Afternoon on the Tay (440) 1880 (388(1)) Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire (903), Weir near Masham, Yorkshire (1007), On the Ure, near Masham, Yorkshire (1071), "Preciosa" vide Longfellow's Spanish Student (1096), Loch Laggan: Morning in September (1113) and On the Wharf, near Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire (1318) None of these watercolours was for sale 1883 (424(2)) Ben Ledi, from the Teith (in oils, 124), Spate in Glen Sannox, Arran (1092), The Silver Strand - Loch Katrine (1255), A Reverie (1394), Loch Lubnaig (1427) 1890 (424(14)) Summer Morning on the East Coast (in oil, 516, the uppermost of the illustrations above, taken from The Piper O' Dundee of 29th October), and Llyn Cwellyn, North Wales (watercolour, 767) No sale prices given 1891 In the pass of Llanberis, North Wales (412, illustrated in The Piper O' Dundee of 18th November) (388(7)) Listed under the work of the Graphic Art Association in the Official Catalogue of the Scottish Home Industries at the Victoria Galleries, Dundee, also in 1891 are Strathcarron (52) and Near Kinlochewe (58) 1895 (388(10)) By the River (in oil, 256) and Nature's Solitude (watercolour, 809) No sale prices given So far, I've had no luck in tracing any of these works, or others by members of the Smieton family. James Smieton No separately published works by James Smieton are known, but in The Bards of Angus and The Mearns, besides the pieces known to have been set by his brother, two manuscript works are listed: The Water Nixie: a fairy cantata St Columba: a sacred drama |