# Francis Hopkinson Smith artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/francis-hopkinson-smith/
Profile generated: 2026-05-27T13:51:04.559Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1838-10-23
- Death date: 1915-04-07
- Nationality: American
- Common media: Oil painting, Watercolor, Illustration

## About Francis Hopkinson Smith

Francis Hopkinson Smith (1838–1915) was an American painter, illustrator, author, and civil engineer whose remarkably varied career bridged the practical and the artistic. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, and later based in New York City, Smith is perhaps best known for supervising the construction of the Statue of Liberty's foundation — an engineering feat that cemented his place in American civic history. Parallel to his engineering work, Smith built a reputation as a skilled painter and illustrator, producing landscapes, marine scenes, and architectural studies. He was also a prolific author of short stories and novels, and his dual creative output as a visual artist and writer made him a distinctive figure in late-nineteenth-century American cultural life. Collectors today encounter his work primarily through oil paintings and illustrations that reflect his travels and keen observational eye.

## Common works and media

Smith's visual output includes oil paintings of landscapes, coastal and marine scenes, and architectural subjects, often inspired by his extensive travels. He also produced watercolors, pen-and-ink illustrations for books (including his own published works), and prints. His illustrations frequently accompanied the popular stories and essays he authored. Collectors may also encounter reproduced illustrations in bound volumes and periodicals from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

## Market and appraisal context

Francis Hopkinson Smith's paintings and illustrations appear at auction with moderate regularity, supported by the 229 lots cataloged in the Appraisily database. His oil paintings — particularly landscapes and marine subjects — tend to attract the strongest collector interest. Illustrations and works on paper form a secondary but active segment. When assessing Smith's work, appraisers should consider medium, subject matter, provenance, condition, and whether the piece reflects his well-documented travel subjects. Comparable public auction results and sale dates provide the most reliable basis for valuation, as his market does not carry the premium associated with exclusively fine-art careers.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine structured artist identity research from library authority files and biographical databases with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For Francis Hopkinson Smith, identity data is grounded in records from the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, and Wikidata.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5481321
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Hopkinson_Smith
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500016368
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/59448095/
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/73404
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50013407