Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, Benjamin
SMITH, BENJAMIN (d. 1833), engraver, was a pupil of Francesco Bartolozzi [q. v.], and practised wholly in the dot or stipple manner. For some years he was largely employed by the Boydells, for whom all his important plates were executed; these include five after Romney, T. Banks, and M. Browne, for the large ‘Shakespeare’ series; Sigismunda after Hogarth, 1795; the portrait of Hogarth with his dog Trump, 1795; portrait of Lord Cornwallis, after Copley, 1798; portrait of George III, after Beechey (frontispiece to Boydell's ‘Shakespeare;’ portrait of Napoleon, after Appiani; ‘The Ceremony of administering the Oath to Alderman Newnham at the Guildhall,’ after W. Miller, 1801; and several allegorical and biblical subjects after John Francis Rigaud [q. v.] and Benjamin West [q. v.] Among Smith's smaller plates, some of which he published himself, are portraits of Lord Charlemont; Barrymore and William Smith, the actors; and Charles and Anne Dibdin. His latest work, ‘Christ and his Disciples at Emmaus,’ after Guercino, is dated 1825. He died in very reduced circumstances in Judd Place, London, in 1833. Among his pupils were William Holl the elder [q. v.], Henry Meyer [q. v.], and Thomas Uwins [q. v.] A watercolour portrait of Smith is in the print-room of the British Museum.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]