(Bedford, Ohio, 1840 - 1900, Los Angeles, California)
1881
Oil on canvas
16 x 30 in. (40.6 x 76.2 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Mr. Theodore Thoburn
1958.69
Like many nineteenth-century landscapists, Smith emphasized the scale and power of nature by tucking tiny figures into his woodland scenes and seascapes. In this view of a country road after a rainstorm, a horse and rider are barely visible beyond the bank of craggy trees and beneath the dramatically colored sky. Smith worked as an attorney until the 1870s when he began to paint full time, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a Cleveland-based portrait painter.