Xanthus Russell Smith Watering the Cows, 1883

Xanthus Russell Smith (1839-1929)

Although he began his artistic career painting landscapes, Xanthus Smith established himself as a specialist in making detailed portrayals of historic Civil War marine battles and, in later life, as a photographer. He was born into a family of artists headed by his father William Russell Smith (1812-1896), whose parents had moved to the United States from their native Scotland around 1819.i By the time he was thirteen, William was in Philadelphia, apprenticed to James Reid Lambdin (1807-1889), who prepared him for his initial occupation painting theatrical scenery, which he later abandoned for a specialty in landscape painting. William married Mary Priscilla Wilson (died 1874), who was a flower painter and a teacher of French and Latin. It was she who schooled Xanthus (reportedly a sickly child) at home in rural Branchtown, near Philadelphia, where the family had moved when Xanthus was around
three years old, hoping to improve his health.ii At about this time Xanthus’s sister Mary (1842-1878) was born. She, too, became a professional artist and enjoyed her principal success as a painter of animal genre.iii