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Lionel Percy Smythe RA RWS RI ROI (1839-1918)

LIONEL PERCY SMYTHE, RA RI ROI RWS (1839- 1918)

The half-brother of W L Wyllie, Lionel Percy Smythe was born on 4 September 1839. He was educated in Paris and in London, at King's College School and Heatherley's School of Art. He was a friend of John William North, and can be associated with him and other English 'Idyllist painters in his delicate approach to painting. However, he spent much of his life from his childhood onwards at Wimereux in Normandy, and he often painted the landscape and life of the area. Between 1879 and 1882, he and his family occupied a Napoleonic fortress on the dunes near Boulogne, a building which was eventually engulfed by the sea. They then moved to the Chateau d'Honvault, on a hill between Wimereux and Ambleteuse, which then remained their principal home. Smythe had begun to exhibit his work in 1860, at leading London and provincial venues, including the Royal Academy. He was elected to the membership of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (1880), the Royal Institute of Painters in Oils (1883), the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours (ARWS 1892, RWS 1894) and the Royal Academy (ARA 1898, RA 1911). He died on 10 July 1918.

His work is represented in the collections of the Royal Academy, Royal Watercolour Society, National Maritime Museum Greenwich, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Walker Art Gallery.

Further reading:
Rosa M Whitlaw, 'Lionel Percy Smythe, Old Water-Colour Society's Club, 1923, Vol 1, pages 61-77
Rosa M Whitlaw and W L Wyllie, Lionel Percy Smythe RA RWS: His Life and Work, London: Selwyn & Blount, 1923

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