Smibert, John (1688–1751)

Scottish-born American painter who emigrated to Newport, Rhode Island, in 1729, with Bishop Berkeley. There he painted his most famous work, Dean Berkeley and His Entourage (1729). In 1730 he moved to Boston to spend the next 18 years mainly doing portraits, which were somewhat awkward in style, of upper-class Massachusetts colonists.

He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He began as a house and coach painter, moved to London 1709, studied portrait painting, moved to Italy c. 1717–20, and came back to London 1720–28. He designed Faneuil Hall, Boston 1740–42, his sole architectural work.