GEORGE SMITH OF CHICHESTER (attr. to) (Chichester, 1717 - 1764) River landscape with artists drawing and wayfarers Oil on canvas, 70.5X100 cm Provenance: Milan, private collection The British artist George Smith was a talented landscape painter and the work under examination is compared with a version he painted for the first exhibition of the newly founded Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce in 1760, winning the prize for the best landscape. Having said this, we also know of a version sold at Sotheby's in London on 13 November 1991, lot 63, which differs in some details in the figures and the group of houses in the background. As we can see, the artist's style evokes the models of Claude Lorrain (1600-1682) and the idealising Italianising landscape painting, balancing composition and nature, giving each work a sense of classical harmony.