Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith
(1846 - 1923) OSA RCA
Previously Sold Works
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Fleet Street
oil on card
signed lower right; titled on the reverse
12.25 x 8 ins ( 31.1 x 20.3 cms )
Auction Estimate: $2,500.00 - $3,500.00
Price Realized $3,100.00
Sale date: November 28th 2014
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
St. Paul’s from the Thames
oil on board
signed lower right
6 x 9 ins ( 15.2 x 22.9 cms )
Auction Estimate: $800.00 - $1,000.00
Price Realized $3,120.00
Sale date: November 30th 2021
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Hyde Park Corner
watercolour
signed lower left
9 x 12.75 ins ( 22.9 x 32.4 cms )
Auction Estimate: $2,000.00 - $3,000.00
Price Realized $2,875.00
Sale date: May 29th 2014
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Westminster Bridge, London
watercolour
signed and dated 1920 lower right
12.75 x 17.75 ins ( 32.4 x 45.1 cms ) ( sight )
Auction Estimate: $3,000.00 - $5,000.00
Price Realized $3,000.00
Sale date: May 31st 2022
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Mount Aberdeen in the Clouds
watercolour
signed lower left; titled on the reverse
19.5 x 13 ins ( 49.5 x 33 cms ) ( sheet )
Auction Estimate: $2,000.00 - $3,000.00
Price Realized $2,891.00
Sale date: September 29th 2020
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Western Canoeing Scene
watercolour
signed and dated 1889 on the right side
12 x 20 ins ( 30.5 x 50.8 cms )
Auction Estimate: $1,500.00 - $2,000.00
Price Realized $2,760.00
Sale date: November 29th 2013
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Hiking in the Mountains
watercolour, laid down on card
signed lower left
15.5 x 9 ins ( 39.4 x 22.9 cms )
Auction Estimate: $2,000.00 - $3,000.00
Price Realized $2,300.00
Sale date: September 17th 2014
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Garden at Gad’s Hill
watercolour
signed lower right
10.5 x 7.25 ins ( 26.7 x 18.4 cms )
Auction Estimate: $800.00 - $1,200.00
Price Realized $2,300.00
Sale date: September 25th 2013
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Fraser River, B.C.
watercolour laid on card
signed lower left; titled lower left; inscribed “On the Fraser River” on the reverse of the card
9.25 x 13 ins ( 23.5 x 33 cms ) ( sight )
Auction Estimate: $1,500.00 - $2,000.00
Price Realized $2,400.00
Sale date: February 23rd 2021
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
The Personal History of David Copperfield, Dickens
oil on board
signed lower left; partial title and dated 1916 on reverse
7.5 x 5.25 ins ( 19.1 x 13.3 cms )
Auction Estimate: $2,500.00 - $3,500.00
Price Realized $2,400.00
Sale date: March 30th 2021
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
River Through the Mountains
watercolour
signed lower right
10.75 x 15.5 ins ( 27.3 x 39.4 cms )
Auction Estimate: $2,000.00 - $3,000.00
Price Realized $2,070.00
Sale date: May 29th 2014
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Mt. Sir Donald and the Illecillewaet River (near Glacier B.C.)
watercolour
signed lower left; titled on framing paper on the reverse
20.5 x 13.75 ins ( 52.1 x 34.9 cms ) ( sight )
Auction Estimate: $800.00 - $1,200.00
Price Realized $2,124.00
Sale date: December 12th 2018
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Rocky Mountain Stream
watercolour
signed lower right; titled on a gallery label on the reverse
14 x 10 ins ( 35.6 x 25.4 cms ) ( sight )
Auction Estimate: $1,200.00 - $1,500.00
Price Realized $2,040.00
Sale date: October 25th 2022
FREDERIC MARLETT BELL-SMITH
Early Morning in the Selkirks
watercolour
signed lower left
14 x 20 ins ( 35.6 x 50.8 cms ) ( sight )
Auction Estimate: $800.00 - $1,200.00
Price Realized $1,888.00
Sale date: October 17th 2018
Consignments
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F.M. Bell-Smith Biography
(1846 - 1923) OSA RCA
Born in London, England, his father was John Bell-Smith a portrait and miniature painter. He studied in London at the South Kensington Art Schools, and in Paris under Courtois, Dupain, and T.A. Harrison. He arrived in Montreal in 1867 and worked for a time as a photographer. Active in art circles he was associated with his father in the founding of the Society of Canadian Artists in 1867 along with W.L. Fraser, Otto R. Jacobi, Henry Sandham and A. Vogt. He lived mainly in Montreal until 1871 when he married Annie Myra Dyde and established residence at Hamilton (1871 and 1879-81). He was active in Southern Ontario as an art teacher in public schools at London, (1881-8); Art Director of Alma College, St. Thomas, Ontario, (1881-90) and Director at the Toronto Art School in 1889.
His style falls somewhere between mid Victorian and the modern movements of freer expression. Dr. Hubbard notes how Bell-Smith’s canvas “Lights of A City Streetâ€reveals his conservative inclination of “sober brownish style†and E.F.B. Johnston on the other hand spoke of his brilliant colour and freedom of treatment. The artist chose this conservative style perhaps more for historical scenes. He painted figures, portraits, cityscapes, seascapes, beach scenes, and mountain scenes and most of his work was done in oils or watercolours. Paul Duval tells of how he sold his water colours in quantity at the market place, especially his meticulously done street scenes. He traveled to Western Canada and painted a number of water colours and oils of the Rocky Mountains.
He also went to England to do a series of pictures on the Death of Sir John Thomson who died at Windsor Castle minutes after being sworn in, by Queen Victoria, as a member of the Privy Council of Canada. While at Windsor Castle he did several canvases of the Queen and two of these are in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. In 1896 he studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris and returned to Alma College Canada in 1897 to resume his duties as art director until 1910. He was an active as an illustrator and contributed to a series of pictures for the book “Picturesque Canada†which contained prose by George Monro Grant and illustrations by more than a score of American and Canadian artists. It was first published about 1882. He was elected Associate Member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1880 and Member in 1886; Member, Ontario Society of Artists (1872). He died in Toronto, Ontario.
Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume I: A-F", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1977